JP6669234B1 - Information processing apparatus, print control method, and print control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accelerate a print job issuing timing by a printer driver. An information processing device according to the present invention analyzes a hooked output command that hooks a series of output commands issued to a printer driver to output target data of an output request, and a hooked output command. An analyzing unit and an issuing unit that reissues the analyzed output command to the printer driver are provided. When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, the issuing unit writes the target data after reissuing the first output command and before reissuing the second output command for the next page. A third output command indicating an output break is issued to the printer driver. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program for performing print control.

  Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique relating to a print control apparatus that transfers a print job from an information processing apparatus to a printer connected to a network and performs print processing. The print control device according to Patent Literature 1 divides a print job received from an information processing device into minimum units, generates a minimum unit print job, and outputs it to a printer.

  Patent Literature 2 discloses a technology related to a printer controller that controls a printer. The printer controller according to Patent Literature 2 receives print data as a print job, converts the print data into image data, and prints out the print data on print paper.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a technique relating to a printer controller. The data control unit of the printer controller according to Patent Literature 3 develops PDL (Page Description Language) received from the client into image data (print output format) and stores the image data in a page memory. Then, the output IF of the printer controller transfers the image data held in the page memory to the printer.

  Here, a printer driver is installed in an information processing apparatus, a client, or the like, which is a source of a print job or the like in Patent Document 1 and the like described above. It can be said that the printer driver converts the print command into a print job and outputs the print job in response to the output command issued from the application that has requested the print processing.

  In recent years, Microsoft (registered trademark) in the United States has adopted a new V4 printer driver as a printer driver architecture to be mounted on Windows (registered trademark) 8, instead of the conventional V3 printer driver.

JP 2007-310770 A JP-A-2002-091748 JP 2000-229451 A

  Here, the architecture of the V4 printer driver is significantly different from the architecture of the V3 printer driver, and there are some functional differences. Output control is one of the functional differences. First, when printing a document or the like, the user application normally issues a series of output commands including individual drawing commands and output control commands. Upon receiving the issued output command, the V3 printer driver sequentially performs an analysis process and a command process required for outputting to the printer, and outputs the print command to the print spooler. On the other hand, in the V4 printer driver, after receiving all the output commands for the document to be printed, the initialization process is started, and then all the output commands are collectively analyzed and commanded, and the print spooler is executed. Output as a print job. Therefore, when the V4 printer driver is used, even if the number of printed pages of the document to be printed is large, output by the printer will not be started until output instructions for all pages have been received. That is, there is a problem that the issuance of a print job by the printer driver may be delayed. In particular, this problem may become more prominent as V4 printer drivers become more widespread in the future.

  Note that the techniques according to Patent Documents 1 to 3 described above are improvements in processing of a print job issued by a printer driver, and do not solve the above-described problems.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the disclosure is to provide an information processing apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program for speeding up issuance of a print job by a printer driver. Aim.

An information processing device according to a first aspect of the present disclosure includes:
A hook unit for hooking a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output target data of the output request;
An analyzer for analyzing the hooked output instruction;
An issuing unit for reissuing the analyzed output instruction toward the printer driver;
With
The issuing unit,
When the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after the re-issue of the first output instruction and before the re-issue of the second output instruction for the next page, the output of the target data is output. A third output command indicating a break is issued to the printer driver.

A print control method according to a second aspect of the present disclosure includes:
Computer
Hook a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request,
Analyzing the hooked output instruction,
If the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after re-issuing the first output instruction to the printer driver and before re-issuing the second output instruction for the next page, A third output command indicating a break of output of the target data is issued to the printer driver.

A print control program according to a third aspect of the present disclosure includes:
Hooking a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request;
Analyzing the hooked output instruction;
If the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after re-issuing the first output instruction to the printer driver and before re-issuing the second output instruction for the next page, A process of issuing a third output command indicating a break of output of the target data to the printer driver;
On a computer.

  According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program for making a print job issuing timing by a printer driver faster.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment; 3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a print control method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment; FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print control unit according to the second embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the concept of print processing using a V4 printer driver. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a print control method according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a concept of a printing process using the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment and a V4 printer driver.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each of the drawings, the same or corresponding elements have the same reference characters allotted, and repeated description will be omitted as necessary to clarify the description.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment. The information processing device 1 is a computer connected to a printer (not shown). In the information processing apparatus 1, an arbitrary application program (not shown) is executed, and the application issues an output command in response to a print instruction from a user or the like. In the information processing apparatus 1, a printer driver (not shown) is installed. The printer driver generates a print job from an output command and outputs the print job to the printer.

  The information processing device 1 includes a hook unit 11, an analyzing unit 12, and an issuing unit 13. The hook unit 11 hooks a series of output commands issued to the printer driver to output target data of the output request. Here, the target data is data processed on the application described above, and is, for example, a document, an image, or the like. The output request is a request made by a user or the like to an application to output target data to a printer or the like. Therefore, the application issues an output instruction in response to the received output request. Further, the output command includes a drawing command and an output control command. The drawing command is, for example, a command for causing a printer to draw characters and lines constituting the contents of the document. The output control command is, for example, a command indicating the start or end of a document or the start or end of a page. Note that the output control instruction indicating the end of a page can be said to be an instruction indicating a page break.

  The hook refers to obtaining an output instruction issued by an application via an OS (Operating System) (not shown) or the like. Therefore, the output command hooked by the hook unit 11 does not reach the printer driver. In other words, the hook unit 11 intercepts an output command issued to the printer driver.

  The analysis unit 12 analyzes the hooked output command. Here, the analysis includes, for example, determining the type of the output command, extracting the print setting from the output command, determining the range of the print setting, and the like. The determination of the print setting range includes whether or not the print setting range is the entire document, whether or not the print setting is specific to a page, whether or not the print setting is common to adjacent pages, and the like.

  The issuing unit 13 reissues the analyzed output command to the printer driver. Here, "reissue" means that the output instruction has already been issued by the application, and thus will be issued again. Therefore, the issuing unit 13 itself issues the “analyzed output command” to the printer driver for the first time. Then, when the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, the issuing unit 13 performs, after re-issuing the first output instruction and before re-issuing the second output instruction relating to the next page, A third output command indicating a break of output of the target data is issued to the printer driver. Here, the second output instruction is an instruction issued by the application after the first output instruction. In particular, the second output instruction is an output instruction that targets a page next to the page targeted by the first output instruction when the target data is printed over a plurality of printing papers by the printer. The third output command is not issued by the application, nor is it issued by the hook unit 11. That is, the issuing unit 13 inserts and issues the third output instruction while reissuing the hooked first and second output instructions.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the print control method according to the first embodiment. As a premise, it is assumed that an application executed on the information processing apparatus 1 sequentially issues output instructions for a printer driver in order to output target data to a printer in response to an output request from a user or the like. At this time, the hook unit 11 hooks the first output instruction among the issued output instructions (S11).

  Next, the analysis unit 12 analyzes the hooked first output instruction (S12). Then, the analysis unit 12 determines whether the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break (S13). When the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, the issuing unit 13 issues the third output instruction after reissuing the first output instruction and before reissuing the second output instruction. (S14). That is, the issuing unit 13 re-issues the first output instruction for the first page, inserts and issues the third output instruction indicating the page break between the first page and the second page, and thereafter issues , Reissue a second output instruction for the second page. If it is determined in step S13 that the analyzed first output instruction does not indicate a page break, the issuing unit 13 re-issues the first output instruction, and then re-issues the second output instruction. Issue.

  Here, the first, second, and third output instructions are not hooked again. Therefore, the printer driver receives in the order issued by the issuing unit 13, that is, in the order of the first output command, the third output command, and the second output command. Then, since the third output command indicates a page break, the printer driver sets the first page targeted by the first output command as one document to be output at the stage of receiving the third output command. Generates a print job and outputs it to a printer (or printer spooler). Thus, the printer can print the first page according to the print job. That is, the printer driver generates the print job for the first page targeted by the first output command received so far without waiting for the reception of the second output command targeted for the second page output. Can start. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the timing of issuing a print job by the printer driver can be made faster. Therefore, the printer can promptly start printing without waiting for reception of all output commands.

  The information processing apparatus 1 includes a processor, a memory, a storage device, and the like as a configuration (not shown). Further, the storage device stores a computer program in which the processing of the print control method according to the present embodiment is implemented. Then, the processor reads the computer program from the storage device into the memory and executes the computer program. Thereby, the processor of the information processing device 1 realizes the functions of the hook unit 11, the analyzing unit 12, and the issuing unit 13 described above.

<Embodiment 2>
The second embodiment is a specific example of the first embodiment. Here, it is preferable that the third output instruction is an instruction for instructing the printer driver to start generating an output job using a set of issued output instructions as an output unit. Alternatively, the third output instruction may be an instruction to cause the printer driver to start generating an output job using a page to which the first output instruction belongs as an output unit. Thus, the printer driver can start generating the output job more reliably before receiving the second output command.

  Further, the issuing unit issues an end instruction indicating the end of the target data as the third output instruction, and after issuing the end instruction and before reissuing the second output instruction, A start command indicating the start of data may be issued. In this way, by outputting the commands indicating the end position of the document and the start position of the document in a pseudo manner, the printer driver can recognize each page as a different document and can appropriately control the printer driver.

  In addition, the analysis unit extracts a first print setting specific to a specific page from the hooked output instruction by the analysis. Then, when the first output instruction indicates a page break of the specific page, the issuing unit assigns the first output instruction to an output instruction belonging to the specific page and before the third output instruction. It is desirable to add print settings. This makes it possible to match the print settings between the divided print jobs.

  Further, in the analysis, the analysis unit may include a first page to which the first output instruction belongs, a second page to which the second output instruction belongs, and a second page to be output next to the first page. It is preferable to further determine whether the first print setting is common to the page. Then, when the first print setting is common according to the determination, it is preferable that the issuing unit suppresses addition of the first print setting to an output command belonging to the second page. As described above, when the print settings overlap between consecutive pages, by excluding the print settings for the second and subsequent times, the data size of the output command can be suppressed, and the throughput can be improved.

  Further, the third output instruction may include a first clear instruction for clearing the first print setting in the printer driver. In this case, the issuing unit excludes the first clear command from the third output command belonging to the first page and removes the third clear command from the third output command if the first print setting is common according to the determination. Issue an output instruction. Accordingly, when print settings overlap between consecutive pages, the received print settings temporarily stored in the printer driver or the printer can be reused to generate a subsequent print job. Efficiency can be improved.

  Further, the analysis unit extracts a second print setting for the entire target data from the hooked output instruction by the analysis. In that case, the third output command includes a second clear command for clearing the second print setting in the printer driver. In this case, the issuing unit may issue the third output instruction by excluding the second clear instruction from the third output instruction. As a result, even if a print job is generated for each page by the third output command in the printer driver, print settings can be shared between print jobs, and print job generation efficiency can be improved.

  Further, when the second output instruction is an end instruction indicating the end of the target data, the issuing unit may suppress re-issuance of the second output instruction. As a result, the printer driver does not receive an unnecessary end command, and can suppress unnecessary processing.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment. The information processing device 100 is an example of the information processing device 1 described above, and is a computer device connected to the printer 200. The information processing device 100 includes a control device 110 and a storage device 120. The storage device 120 is a volatile or nonvolatile storage device. The storage device 120 stores a program 121, a hooked output instruction 122, and the like. The program 121 is a computer program in which the processing of the print control method according to the second embodiment is implemented. The hooked output command 122 is a command in which an output command issued by the application unit 111 is hooked by the print control unit 112, as described later. The storage device 120 includes, for example, a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk and a flash memory, or a ROM (Read Only Memory), but is not limited thereto.

  The control device 110 is a control circuit such as a processor. The control device 110 reads out the program 121 from the storage device 120 to a memory (not shown) and executes it. Accordingly, the control device 110 functions as the print control unit 112. Further, the control device 110 realizes the application unit 111 by executing a predetermined application program (not shown). Further, the control device 110 realizes the OS unit 113 by executing an OS (not shown).

  The application unit 111 is, for example, a GDI (Graphics Device Interface) application. Note that the application unit 111 may be known software. Therefore, the application unit 111 creates a document or the like in response to a user operation, calls a plurality of GDI functions in response to a print request (output request) for the document from the user, and directs the OS unit 113 to output commands. Issue.

  The OS unit 113 may be a known OS. The OS unit 113 includes a printer driver 1131 and a print spooler 1132. The printer driver 1131 is a device driver that receives an output command issued from the application unit 111, generates a print job, and outputs the print job to the print spooler 1132. The printer driver 1131 is, for example, a V4 printer driver.

  The print spooler 1132 is a message queue that manages a print job output from the printer driver 1131 by FIFO (First-In First-Out). Then, the print spooler 1132 outputs the print jobs to the printer 200 in the order of registration.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the print control unit 112 according to the second embodiment. The print control unit 112 includes a hook unit 1121, an analysis unit 1122, and an issuing unit 1123. The hook unit 1121 is an example of the hook unit 11 described above, monitors the application unit 111, and hooks an output command issued by the application unit 111. The analysis unit 1122 is an example of the analysis unit 12 described above, and analyzes an output instruction hooked by the hook unit 1121. The issuing unit 1123 is an example of the issuing unit 13 described above, and re-issues an output instruction or additionally issues a new instruction according to the analysis result by the analyzing unit 1122.

  Here, in order to explain a problem to be solved by the present embodiment, a printing process when the present embodiment is not used will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the concept of print processing using a V4 printer driver. Here, the GDI application 111a is an example of the application unit 111, and the V4 printer driver 1131a is an example of the printer driver 1131.

  First, the GDI application 111a issues a StartDoc as an output command (S900). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives the StartDoc. Next, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands for the first page (S901). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a sequentially receives the output commands for the first page. However, at this point, the V4 printer driver 1131a does not start generating a print job because EndDoc has not been received.

  Thereafter, the GDI application 111a sequentially issues a series of output commands for the second to Nth pages (S902, S903). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a sequentially receives output commands for the second to Nth pages. Then, the GDI application 111a issues an EndDoc indicating the end of the document to be output (S904). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives the EndDoc. In response to receiving the EndDoc, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs an initialization process to start generating a print job (S911). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a analyzes the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Paper Specification (XPS) for the output command group of the received first page (S912), and converts it into a command (S913). That is, the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating a print job for the first page after receiving all output commands for all pages of the document to be printed. Next, the V4 printer driver 1131a repeats the XPS analysis and command conversion for each page of the output command group of the received second and subsequent pages (S914) to generate the XPS file. Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a stores the generated XPS files for all pages in the print spooler 1132 (S915). After that, the printer 200 performs printing in accordance with the XPS file output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs it as output paper 210.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the V4 printer driver 1131a cannot start generating a print job until receiving EndDoc. That is, the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating print jobs in order from the first page after receiving output instructions for all pages of the document to be printed. Therefore, it takes time t1 from when the GDI application 111a issues the StartDoc to when the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating a print job. Then, time t2 is required until the printer 200 starts printing the first page of the output paper 210.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the print control unit 112 is interposed between the application unit 111 and the printer driver 1131, and the print control unit 112 inserts and issues EndDoc in page units. This makes it possible for the printer driver 1131 to recognize that the issuance of the output instruction in the unit of a document has been completed in a pseudo manner, thereby speeding up the generation of the first page print job in the printer driver 1131.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the print control method according to the second embodiment. First, it is assumed that an application unit 111 to be monitored has been set in the print control unit 112 in advance by a user.

  Thus, the hook unit 1121 monitors an output command issued by the application unit 111 (S101). Then, the hook unit 1121 hooks the output command issued by the application unit 111 (S102). Here, since this is the first output command, it is assumed that a print target start command (such as StarDoc) has been hooked as an output command. Then, the analyzing unit 1122 analyzes the hooked output command, determines that the output command is a print target start command, and performs an initialization process (S103).

  Subsequently, the hook unit 1121 sequentially hooks subsequent output instructions (S104). Then, the analyzing unit 1122 analyzes the hooked output command and stores the hooked output command in the storage device 120 as the hooked output command 122 (S105). At this time, the analysis unit 1122 extracts the print setting from the output command and determines whether the print setting is specific to the entire document or a page. Further, the analysis unit 1122 may store the extracted print settings in the storage device 120.

  Then, the analyzing unit 1122 determines whether or not the output instruction indicates the end of one page (page break) by analysis (S106). At this time, if the output command does not indicate the end of one page, the process returns to step S104 and repeats thereafter. On the other hand, when the output instruction indicates the end of one page, for example, when the output instruction is EndPage, the issuing unit 1123 issues the group of hooked output instructions 122 stored in the storage device 120 to the printer driver 1131 ( S107). That is, the issuing unit 1123 reads and issues the hooked output instructions 122 from the storage device 120 in the order of accumulation. At this time, the issuing unit 1123 may appropriately add the print settings extracted as described above to the output instruction. For example, if the print settings are specific to the page (paper information, such as paper size and paper direction), the issuing unit 1123 adds the print settings to StartPage. As described above, the issuing unit 1123 newly issues an output instruction. Since the hooked output instruction 122 has been issued in the application unit 111, the issuing of the hooked output instruction 122 is performed in step S107. May be expressed as “reissue”. It is assumed that the issuing unit 1123 deletes the hooked output instruction 122 stored in the storage device 120 after issuing it.

  Next, the issuing unit 1123 issues a print target end command (S108). For example, when the output instruction issued last in step S107 is EndPage, the issuing unit 1123 newly issues EndDoc as an end instruction and issues it.

  Thereafter, the hook unit 1121 hooks the next output instruction (S109). Then, the analysis unit 1122 analyzes the hooked output instruction and stores it in the storage device 120 as the hooked output instruction 122, as in step S105 (S110). The output command hooked in step S109 is StartPage, which is a start command for the next page, or EndDoc indicating the end of the document if there is no next page.

  Then, the analysis unit 1122 determines whether or not the output instruction indicates the end of the print target (a break of the output of the target data) by analysis (S111). At this time, if the output instruction does not indicate the end of the print target, the issuing unit 1123 issues a start instruction (StartDoc) of the print target (S112). That is, the output instruction (StartPage) hooked in step S109 is stored, and before the StartPage is reissued, the issuing unit 1123 inserts and issues the StartDoc. At this time, the issuing unit 1123 may appropriately add the print settings extracted as described above to the output instruction. For example, when the print setting is for the entire document, the issuing unit 1123 adds the print setting to the StartDoc. Thereafter, the process returns to step S104, and thereafter, is repeated. Therefore, when the EndPage of the second page is detected in step S106, the output instructions of the second page are sequentially reissued in step S107, starting from the StartPage of the second page hooked in the previous step S109. . Then, in step S108, the EndDoc of the second page is newly inserted and issued. If EndDoc is hooked in step S109, it is determined in step S111 that the printing target is to be ended, and the print control unit 112 performs end processing (S113). That is, EndDoc hooked in the last step S109 is not reissued.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the concept of print processing using the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment and a V4 printer driver. First, the GDI application 111a issues a StartDoc as an output command (S200). At this time, the print control unit 112 hooks the StartDoc and performs an initialization process (S210). Also, since the print control unit 112 hooks, the V4 printer driver 1131a does not receive the StartDoc at this stage.

  Subsequently, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands for the first page (S201). Then, the print control unit 112 hooks a series of output commands for the first page, issues an EndPage for the first page, and then issues a series of output commands for the first page to the V4 printer driver 1131a (S211). At this time, after issuing the EndPage of the first page, the print control unit 112 inserts and issues EndDoc.

  In response, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives a series of output commands for the first page and starts initialization (S221). Subsequently, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs an XPS analysis (S222) and a command (S223) on a series of output commands related to the first page, and outputs the XPS file 131 of the first page to the print spooler 1132 as a print job. I do. Thereafter, the printer 200 performs printing in accordance with the XPS file 131 (S241) output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs the output paper 211.

  After step S201, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands for the second page (S202). Then, after hooking the StartPage of the second page, the print control unit 112 inserts and issues a StartDoc before reissuing the StartPage. Then, the print control unit 112 hooks a series of output commands for the second page, issues an EndPage for the second page, and issues a series of output commands (StartPage to EndPage) for the second page to the V4 printer driver 1131a. (S212). At that time, after issuing the EndPage for the second page, the print control unit 112 inserts and issues EndDoc.

  In response, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives a series of output commands for the second page and starts initialization (S224). Subsequently, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs XPS analysis (S225) and commandization (S226) on a series of output commands related to the second page, and outputs the XPS file 132 on the second page to the print spooler 1132 as a print job. I do. After that, the printer 200 performs printing in accordance with the XPS file 132 (S242) output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs it as the output paper 212.

  Thereafter, similarly, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands for the Nth page (S203), and the print control unit 112 hooks the StartPage of the Nth page, and before re-issuing the StartPage, StartDoc is inserted and issued. Then, the print control unit 112 hooks a series of output commands for the Nth page, issues an EndPage for the Nth page, and then issues a series of output commands for the Nth page (StartPage to EndPage) to the V4 printer driver 1131a. (S213). At this time, after issuing the EndPage of the Nth page, the print control unit 112 inserts and issues EndDoc.

  In response, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives a series of output commands for the Nth page and starts initialization (S227). Subsequently, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs XPS analysis (S228) and commandization (S229) on a series of output commands for the Nth page, and outputs the XPS file 133 of the Nth page to the print spooler 1132 as a print job. I do. After that, the printer 200 performs printing in accordance with the XPS file 133 (S243) output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs it as output paper 213.

  After step S203, the GDI application 111a issues EndDoc indicating the end of the print target as an output command (S204). Then, after hooking the EndDoc, the print control unit 112 performs an end process (S214). At this time, the print control unit 112 does not reissue the hooked EndDoc.

  As shown in FIG. 7, a time t3 is required from when the GDI application 111a issues the StartDoc to when the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating the first page print job. The time t3 indicates that it is shorter than the time t1 shown in FIG. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to further increase the timing of issuing a print job by the printer driver. Further, time t4 is required until the printer 200 starts printing the output paper 211 of the first page. Then, the time t4 is shorter than the time t2 shown in FIG. Therefore, the first page can be printed faster.

<Other embodiments>
Each of the embodiments described above is applicable to a print system using a print spooler of the Windows OS and a V4 printer driver. Further, each of the above-described embodiments is also applicable to an application that requests the print spooler to execute printing after accepting all output commands after performing the same printing process as the V4 printer driver. The embodiments described above can be applied not only to the output of the XPS file of the V4 printer driver but also to the case of outputting a PDF (Portable Document Format) in which printing cannot be started until the end of the file. To play.

  In the above-described embodiment, the description has been given as a hardware configuration, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present disclosure can also realize any processing by causing a CPU to execute a computer program.

  In the above example, the program can be stored and supplied to a computer using various types of non-transitory computer readable media. Non-transitory computer readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer readable media are magnetic recording media (eg, flexible disk, magnetic tape, hard disk drive), magneto-optical recording media (eg, magneto-optical disk), CD-ROM (Read Only Memory), CD-R, CD-R / W, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), semiconductor memory (for example, mask ROM, PROM (Programmable ROM), EPROM (Erasable PROM), flash ROM, RAM (Random Access Memory)). Also, the program may be supplied to the computer by various types of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. Transitory computer readable media can provide the program to a computer via a wired communication line such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or a wireless communication line.

  The present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be appropriately modified without departing from the gist. In addition, the present disclosure may be implemented by appropriately combining the embodiments.

Some or all of the above embodiments may be described as in the following supplementary notes, but are not limited thereto.
(Appendix A1)
A hook unit for hooking a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output target data of the output request;
An analyzer for analyzing the hooked output instruction;
An issuing unit for reissuing the analyzed output instruction toward the printer driver;
With
The issuing unit,
When the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after the re-issue of the first output instruction and before the re-issue of the second output instruction for the next page, the output of the target data is output. An information processing apparatus for issuing a third output instruction indicating a break to the printer driver.
(Appendix A2)
The third output instruction is an instruction for causing the printer driver to start generating an output job using a set of issued output instructions as an output unit.
The information processing device according to supplementary note A1.
(Appendix A3)
The third output instruction is an instruction for instructing the printer driver to start generating an output job with the page to which the first output instruction belongs as an output unit.
The information processing device according to supplementary note A1 or A2.
(Appendix A4)
The issuing unit,
Issuing an end instruction indicating the end of the target data as the third output instruction;
The information processing apparatus according to any one of supplementary notes A1 to A3, which issues a start instruction indicating the start of the target data after issuing the end instruction and before reissuing the second output instruction.
(Appendix A5)
The analysis unit,
Extracting, by the analysis, a first print setting specific to a specific page from the hooked output instruction;
The issuing unit,
When the first output instruction indicates a page break of the specific page, the first print setting belongs to the specific page and is added to an output instruction before the third output instruction. Appendix A1 The information processing device according to any one of A to A4.
(Appendix A6)
The analysis unit,
In the analysis, between the first page to which the first output instruction belongs and the second page to which the second output instruction belongs and is output next to the first page, Further determining whether the first print settings are common,
The issuing unit,
The information processing device according to supplementary note A5, wherein when the first print settings are common as a result of the determination, addition of the first print settings to an output command belonging to the second page is suppressed.
(Appendix A7)
The third output instruction is:
The printer driver includes a first clear command for clearing the first print setting,
The issuing unit,
If the first print settings are common as a result of the determination, the third output instruction is issued by excluding the first clear instruction from the third output instructions belonging to the first page. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1.
(Appendix A8)
The analysis unit,
By the analysis, a second print setting for the entire target data is extracted from the hooked output instruction,
The third output instruction is:
A second clear command for clearing the second print setting in the printer driver;
The issuing unit,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of supplementary notes A1 to A7, wherein the third output instruction is issued by excluding the second clear instruction from the third output instruction.
(Appendix A9)
The issuing unit,
The information processing device according to any one of supplementary notes A1 to A8, wherein when the second output instruction is an end instruction indicating the end of the target data, reissue of the second output instruction is suppressed.
(Appendix B1)
Computer
Hook a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request,
Analyzing the hooked output instruction,
If the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after re-issuing the first output instruction to the printer driver and before re-issuing the second output instruction for the next page, A print control method for issuing, to the printer driver, a third output instruction indicating a break of output of the target data.
(Appendix C1)
Hooking a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request;
Analyzing the hooked output instruction;
If the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after reissuing the first output instruction to the printer driver and before reissuing the second output instruction for the next page, A process of issuing a third output command indicating a break of output of the target data to the printer driver;
Print control program that causes a computer to execute

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 information processing device 11 hook unit 12 analysis unit 13 issuing unit 100 information processing device 110 control device 111 application unit 112 print control unit 1121 hook unit 1122 analysis unit 1123 issuing unit 113 OS unit 1131 printer driver 1132 print spooler 120 storage device 121 program 122 Hooked output command 200 Printer 210 Output paper 211 Output paper 212 Output paper 213 Output paper 111a GDI application 1131a V4 printer driver 131 XPS file 132 XPS file 133 XPS file t1 time t2 time t3 time t4 time

Claims (8)

A hook unit for hooking a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output target data of the output request;
An analyzer for analyzing the hooked output instruction;
An issuing unit for reissuing the analyzed output instruction toward the printer driver;
With
The issuing unit,
When the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after the re-issue of the first output instruction and before the re-issue of the second output instruction for the next page, the output of the target data is output. Issue a third output instruction indicating a break to the printer driver ;
The analysis unit,
Extracting, by the analysis, a first print setting specific to a specific page from the hooked output instruction;
The issuing unit,
When the first output instruction indicates a page break of the specific page, the first print setting belongs to the specific page, and the first print setting is added to an output instruction before the third output instruction.
The analysis unit,
In the analysis, between the first page to which the first output instruction belongs and the second page to which the second output instruction belongs and is output next to the first page, Further determining whether the first print settings are common,
The issuing unit,
When the first print settings are common as a result of the determination, an information processing apparatus that suppresses addition of the first print settings to an output command belonging to the second page . The third output instruction is an instruction for causing the printer driver to start generating an output job using a set of issued output instructions as an output unit.
The information processing device according to claim 1. The third output instruction is an instruction for instructing the printer driver to start generating an output job with the page to which the first output instruction belongs as an output unit.
The information processing device according to claim 1. The issuing unit,
Issuing an end instruction indicating the end of the target data as the third output instruction;
4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after issuing the end instruction and before reissuing the second output instruction, a start instruction indicating a start of the target data is issued. 5. The third output instruction is:
The printer driver includes a first clear command for clearing the first print setting,
The issuing unit,
If the first print setting by the determining is common, claim 1 to the exclusion of the first clear instruction from said third output command belonging to the first page issuing the third output command An information processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The issuing unit,
  When the second output instruction is an end instruction indicating the end of the target data, re-issue of the second output instruction is suppressed.
  The information processing device according to claim 1. Computer
Hook a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request,
Analyzing the hooked output instruction,
If the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after re-issuing the first output instruction to the printer driver and before re-issuing the second output instruction for the next page, Issuing a third output command indicating a break of output of the target data to the printer driver ;
Extracting, by the analysis, a first print setting specific to a specific page from the hooked output instruction;
When the first output instruction indicates a page break of the specific page, the first print setting belongs to the specific page, and the first print setting is added to an output instruction before the third output instruction.
In the analysis, between the first page to which the first output instruction belongs and the second page to which the second output instruction belongs and is output next to the first page, Further determining whether the first print settings are common,
A print control method for suppressing addition of the first print setting to an output command belonging to the second page when the first print setting is common according to the determination . Hook processing for hooking a series of output instructions issued to a printer driver to output target data of an output request;
Analysis processing for analyzing the hooked output instruction;
If the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, after re-issuing the first output instruction to the printer driver and before re-issuing the second output instruction for the next page, An issuance process of issuing a third output instruction indicating an output break of the target data to the printer driver;
To the computer ,
The analysis processing includes:
Extracting, by the analysis, a first print setting specific to a specific page from the hooked output instruction;
The issuing process includes:
When the first output instruction indicates a page break of the specific page, the first print setting belongs to the specific page, and the first print setting is added to an output instruction before the third output instruction.
The analysis processing includes:
In the analysis, between the first page to which the first output instruction belongs and the second page to which the second output instruction belongs and is output next to the first page, Further determining whether the first print settings are common,
The issuing process includes:
If the first print setting is common according to the determination, the addition of the first print setting to the output command belonging to the second page is suppressed.
Print control program.

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