JP2008027217A - Printing system with information processor and printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To implement a trial printing function and to reduce the waste of resources and time due to trial printing. <P>SOLUTION: In a printing system for printing job data transferred from an information processor, the information processor includes a means for transferring an indication command to a printing apparatus, a means for transferring a preservation indication command to the printing apparatus in response to reception of a trial printing indication, a means for monitoring the printing apparatus, a means for displaying a result of preservation processing, and a means for transferring a printing indication command to the printing apparatus in accordance with a printing indication to a display means. The printing apparatus includes: a job storage part for preserving job data in the printing apparatus; a means for preserving job data received from the information processor in the job storage part; an informing means for informing the information processor of the result of preservation processing; and a means for performing print processing of job data preserved in the job storage part in the case that the indication command received from the information processor is a command to indicate printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system in which a printing apparatus prints job data transferred from an information processing apparatus.

  Conventionally, printing on the POD (Print On Demand) market where a customer receives a request to create a printed matter (magazine, newspaper, catalog, advertisement, etc.) and generates a printed matter from electronic data using a printing device such as a digital copying machine. In the workflow, the operator performs a prepress operation for generating print data on the client computer, and the press operation for performing the printing process is performed in front of the printing apparatus.

In such a printing workflow, with the aim of reducing mistakes and waste of resources during printing, the print data sent from the client computer is temporarily stored in the printing device, and at the same time, only a specific page and number of copies are printed. A printing function is considered (for example, see Patent Document 1).
USP 6160629

  However, in the above-described conventional technology, the trial printing process (storing process and printing process) is executed without confirming the processing result in the printer. Therefore, resources such as paper and ink by the printing process of the trial printing, There has been a problem that the time required for the printing process is wasted.

Under such an object, the first invention comprises an information processing device and a printing device connected to the information processing device,
In the printing system in which the printing apparatus prints job data transferred from the information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes a transfer unit that transfers the job data and an instruction command to a printing apparatus to the printing apparatus, and includes a command for instructing storage of job data and a command for instructing printing. Monitoring means for monitoring the printing apparatus, having means for transferring a command instructing the saving to the printing apparatus when the instruction for trial printing meaning saving and printing in the printing apparatus is received A display means for displaying the result of the storage process of the printing apparatus acquired by the monitoring means, and the transfer means transfers a command for instructing printing to the printing apparatus in accordance with a print instruction to the display means. Means to
The printing apparatus has a job storage unit for storing job data in the printing apparatus, and the received job data is stored in the storage unit when the instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command instructing storage. Storing means, and notifying means for notifying the result of the storage process to the information processing apparatus, and when the instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command instructing printing, the information is stored in the job storage unit. And a means for printing the job data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the instruction command includes a command for instructing deletion of job data, and the information processing apparatus deletes the transfer means to the printing apparatus in accordance with a deletion instruction to the display means. Means for transferring a command indicating
The printing apparatus includes a unit that performs a process of deleting job data stored in the job storage unit when an instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command instructing deletion.

According to a third invention, in the first invention, the instruction command includes a command for instructing a change in an output setting of job data, and the information processing apparatus performs the transfer unit in accordance with an instruction to change the output setting to the display unit. Has means for transferring a command for instructing change of output setting to the printing apparatus,
The printing apparatus includes means for changing output settings of job data stored in the job storage unit when the instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command for instructing change of output settings. And

According to a fourth aspect, in the first aspect, the notification unit of the printing apparatus includes a unit that transmits image data together with a notification of a result of the storage process.
The display means of the printing apparatus has means for displaying a preview of image data.

As explained above, according to the claims of the present invention,
When trial printing is instructed, the save command and print command are sent to the printer sequentially along with the print data, and the printer saves and prints the print data according to each command. Realized,
In addition, by executing the printing process of the trial printing, the operator is notified of the processing result on the printer,
The operator can determine in advance whether or not to perform trial printing, and can perform trial printing after changing the attributes as necessary, reducing waste of resources and time due to trial printing. it can.

(Example 1)
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Configuration example of printing system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a printing system according to the present invention. It should be noted that the environment of the entire printing system in the following description is for facilitating understanding of the description of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these environments.

  In the figure, reference numerals 101, 102, and 103 denote network computers (client computers) that are connected to the network 106 and can communicate with each other, and are typically personal computers (PCs), and are connected to the network 106 by a network cable. Various programs such as application programs can be executed, and the print data is transferred to the network printers 104 and 105.

  Reference numerals 104 and 105 denote network printers as print control apparatuses, which are connected to the network 106 via a network interface (not shown), analyze print jobs including print data transmitted from the client computers 101 to 103, One page is converted to a dot image and printed. The functions of each network printer may be different.

  Reference numeral 106 denotes a network, which is connected to client computers 101 to 103, network printers 104 and 105, and the like.

<Example of hardware configuration of client computer>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the client computers 101 to 103. In FIG. 2, a CPU 200 controls the entire apparatus. The CPU executes an application program, a printer driver program, an OS stored in a hard disk (HD) 205, the control program of the present embodiment, and the like. Control to temporarily store information, files, etc. necessary for execution.

  Reference numeral 201 denotes a ROM as storage means, which stores various data such as programs such as basic I / O programs, font data used in document processing, and template data. Reference numeral 202 denotes a RAM as temporary storage means, which functions as a main memory, work area, and the like of the CPU 200.

  Reference numeral 203 denotes a flexible disk drive as a storage medium reading unit, and a program or the like stored in the FD 204 as a storage medium can be loaded into the computer through the FD drive 203 as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 204 denotes a flexible disk (FD) as a storage medium, which is a storage medium in which a program is stored so as to be readable by a computer. Note that the storage medium is not limited to the FD and may be any CD-ROM, CDR, CDRW, PC card, DVD, IC memory card, MO, and the like.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes one of external storage means, which is a hard disk (HD) that functions as a large-capacity memory, and stores application programs, OS, control programs, related programs, and the like.

  Reference numeral 206 denotes a keyboard which is an instruction input unit. The user inputs an instruction of a device control command to the client computer. A display 207 is a display unit that displays commands input from the keyboard 206, the status of the printer, and the like.

  A system bus 208 controls the flow of data in the computer. Reference numeral 209 denotes an interface which is an input / output unit, and the information processing apparatus exchanges data with an external apparatus via the interface 209.

  Note that the configuration of the computer is an example thereof, and is not limited to the configuration example of FIG. For example, the storage location of data and programs can be changed by ROM, RAM, HD, etc. according to the characteristics.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the memory map of the RAM 202 shown in FIG. 2, and is a memory map in a state where the control program in the client computer of the present invention loaded from the FD 204 is loaded into the RAM 202 and can be executed. is there.

  In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the control program and related data are loaded directly from the FD 204 to the RAM 202 and executed. However, every time the control program is operated, the control program is already installed from the FD 204. The HD 205 may be loaded into the RAM 202. In addition to the FD, the medium for storing the control program may be a CD-ROM, CDR, PC card, DVD, or IC memory card. Further, it is possible to store the control program in the ROM 201, configure it as a part of the memory map, and execute it directly by the CPU 200. In addition, software that realizes the same function as each of the above devices can be used as an alternative to a hardware device.

  A basic I / O program 301 is a program having an IPL (Initial Program Loading) function for starting the operation of the OS by reading the OS from the HD 205 into the RAM 202 when the computer is turned on. This is the area that contains Reference numeral 302 denotes an operating system (OS), and 303 denotes a control program, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 304 denotes related data, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 305 denotes a work area in which an area for the CPU 200 to execute the control program is secured.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, 401 is volume information indicating data information, 402 is directory information, 403 is a client computer control program described in this embodiment, and 404 is related data. The control program 403 is a program based on the flowchart of the client computer described in this embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship with the FD 204 inserted into the FD drive 203 shown in FIG. 2, and the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 5, the FD 204 stores a control program and related data of the client computer described in the present embodiment.

<Example of Software Configuration of Client Computer in this Embodiment>
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the software configuration of the client computer 601 of this embodiment for each functional module.

  In the figure, reference numeral 601 denotes a client computer (corresponding to 101 to 103) that generates a print job in response to a trial print instruction from the user and transmits it to the printer 104.

  Reference numeral 602 denotes an application that generates a print job for printing on the printer 104 in accordance with a print instruction from the user. The generated print job is passed to Print Spooler 603.

  A print spooler 603 generates job information as shown in FIG. 7 from the print job received from the application 602 and spools the print job. The print job that has been spooled is transferred to the transfer unit 604.

  A transfer unit 604 transfers a print job and an instruction command from the client computer 601 to the printer 104 using the network 106.

  A printer monitoring unit 605 acquires the status of the printer 104, the status of the print job transferred to the printer 104, and the processing result.

  A processing result display unit 606 displays the processing result acquired from the printer 104 in the client computer 601 on the user interface illustrated in FIGS. The processing result display unit 606 also has a function of displaying a preview of image data received from the printer 104. In addition, when receiving a print instruction from the user, the processing result display unit 606 instructs the transfer unit 604 to transfer a print command.

<Job information of client computer in this embodiment>
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating job information 700 generated by the print spooler 603 of the client computer 601 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

  Reference numeral 701 denotes a job ID for the client computer 601 to identify a print job. Since this job ID is also set in the job information 900 of the printer 104, the client computer 601 is also used for managing print jobs on the printer 104.

  Reference numeral 702 denotes a print job name indicating the name of the print data.

  Reference numeral 703 denotes an output destination printer indicating the printer name transmitted by the client computer 601. Information other than the name such as an IP address may be used as long as it is information for identifying the printer.

  Reference numeral 704 denotes an output method in the printer 104. Output methods include trial printing and normal printing.

  Reference numeral 705 denotes an output setting indicating the number of copies, page range, and the like designated by the application 602.

<Configuration Example of Printer in this Embodiment>
FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the printer 104 of this embodiment for each functional module.

  A communication unit 801 receives a print job from the client computer 601 via the network 106 in the printer 104 and transfers processing results and image data to the client computer 601.

  Reference numeral 802 denotes a printer control unit for instructing processing to each module in the printer 104 and controlling the operation of the entire printer. The printer control unit generates job information as shown in FIG. 9 for the print job received from the client 601 and manages the print job.

  Reference numeral 803 denotes a RIP processing unit that decodes print data in the printer 104 and performs RIP (Raster Image Processor) development.

  A data management unit 804 stores a print job after RIP processing in a job storage unit 805 (to be described later) in the printer 104, and manages search, retrieval, and replacement of the stored print job.

  A job storage unit 805 stores a print job after RIP processing in the printer 104.

  A print processing unit 806 generates image data by performing image processing on print data after RIP processing in the printer 104, and sequentially performs print processing on the print sheet.

<Job Information of Printer in this Embodiment>
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating job information 900 generated by the printer control unit 802 of the printer 104 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

  A job ID received from the client computer 601 at the time of transfer of the print job is set in 901.

  Reference numeral 902 denotes a print job name indicating the name of the print data.

  A transmission source client 903 indicates the name of the client computer that has received the print job. Note that information other than the name such as an IP address may be used as long as it is information for identifying the client computer.

  Reference numeral 904 denotes an output setting indicating the number of copies, page range, and the like designated by the application 602.

<Processing sequence of printing system in this embodiment>
FIG. 10 illustrates a processing sequence realized by the client computer 601 and the printer 104.

  When the user instructs trial printing to the application 602 of the client computer 601, the application 602 generates a print job, and the transfer unit 604 transmits a print job and a save command to the printer 104.

  When the printer 104 receives a print job and a save command from the client computer 601, it executes RIP processing, saves the print job in the job storage unit 805, and notifies the client computer 601 of the result.

When the client computer 601 receives the notification of the result from the printer 104, the client computer 601 displays a processing result and a user interface for print inquiry to the user. (Displays FIG. 13 to FIG. 15 according to the processing result)
When the user issues a print instruction, a print command is transmitted from the client computer 601 to the printer 104.

  Upon receiving a print command from the client computer 601, the printer 104 searches for a job stored in the job storage unit 805 and executes print processing.

<Processing flow of client computer in this embodiment>
FIG. 11 shows a print job transmitted to the printer 104 after a trial print instruction from the user executed by the control program of the client computer 601 is displayed, the processing result in the printer 104 is displayed, and the printer 104 is displayed according to the user instruction. The flow of processing for transmitting an instruction command to the user is described.

  In step S <b> 1101, the application 602 determines whether trial printing has been instructed by the user. If an instruction is given, the process proceeds to step S1102.

  In step S <b> 1102, the application 602 generates a print job that can be processed by the printer 104.

In step S1103, the print job is transferred from the application 602 to the Print Spooler 603, and the Print Spooler 603 generates job information 700 shown in FIG. (The job ID of the generated job information is set to “001”)
In step S <b> 1104, the transfer unit 604 transfers the print job and the save command to the printer 104. At this time, the save command includes a job ID (“001”) and an output setting.

In step S <b> 1105, the printer monitoring unit 605 determines whether a storage process result has been received from the printer 104. If received, the process proceeds to step S1106. (The job ID of the received processing result is set to “001”)
In step S1106, the processing result display unit 606 displays the user interface shown in FIGS. 13 to 15 according to the result of the storage process received from the printer 104.

  In step S1107, it is determined whether the user has instructed printing. If printing is instructed, the process proceeds to step S1108. If printing is not instructed, the process proceeds to step S1111.

  In step S1108, it is determined whether the user has instructed to change the output setting. If a change is instructed, the process proceeds to step S1109. If no change is instructed, the process proceeds to step S1110.

  In step S <b> 1109, the transfer unit 604 transmits a setting change command including the output setting change contents and a print command (“001”) to the printer 104.

  In step S <b> 1110, the transfer unit 604 transmits a print command (“001”) to the printer 104.

  In step S1111, it is determined whether the user has instructed deletion of the print job. If deletion is instructed, the process proceeds to step S1112. If the “Close” button is pressed without instructing deletion, the process is terminated.

  In step S <b> 1112, the transfer unit 604 transmits a delete command (“001”) instructing to delete the print job to the printer 104.

<Processing flow of printer in this embodiment>
FIG. 12 illustrates a flow of processing in the printer 104 that performs storage processing, print processing, and deletion processing in accordance with a command received from the client computer 601.

In step S1201, it is determined whether the communication unit 701 has received an instruction command from the client computer 601. If received, the process proceeds to step S1202. (The job ID of the received instruction command is set to “001”)
In step S1202, it is determined whether the received instruction command is a save command. In the case of a save command, the process proceeds to step S1203. If it is not a save command, the process proceeds to step S1209.

In step S1203, the printer control unit 802 generates job information 900 shown in FIG. (Job ID is “001”)
In step S1204, when the printer control unit 802 instructs the RIP processing unit 803 to perform RIP processing, the RIP processing unit 803 executes the RIP processing and returns the result to the printer control unit 802.

  In step S1205, it is determined whether an error has occurred in the RIP process. If an error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S1208. If no error has occurred, the process proceeds to step S1206.

  In step S1206, when the printer control unit 802 instructs the data management unit 804 to store the print job after the RIP process, the data management unit 804 stores the print job in the job storage unit 805 (“001”).

  In step S1207, the communication unit 701 transmits the results of the RIP process and the storage process to the client computer 601 (“001”). At this time, the image data after RIP processing is also transmitted. The types of results to be notified are “normal end” (save processing completed normally) and “warning” (some output settings have been changed in RIP processing).

  In step S1208, the communication unit 701 transmits an error notification to the client computer 601 (“001”).

  In step S1209, when the printer control unit 802 instructs the data management unit 804 to search for a print job, the data management unit 804 searches the job storage unit 805 for a print job (“001”).

  In step S1210, it is determined whether a print job has been found. If found, the process proceeds to step S1211. If not found, the process proceeds to step S1208.

  In step S1211, it is determined whether the instruction command received from the client computer 601 is a print command. If it is a print command, the process proceeds to step S1212. If it is not a print command (in the case of a delete command), the process proceeds to step S1213.

  In step S1212, when the printer control unit 802 instructs the print processing unit 806 to perform print processing, the print processing unit 806 executes print processing ("001"). At this time, if a setting change command is also received from the client computer 601, the print processing is executed after changing the output setting.

  In step S1213, when the printer control unit 802 instructs the data management unit 804 to delete the print job, the data management unit 804 deletes the print job stored in the job storage unit 805 (“001”).

<User Interface of Client Computer in this Embodiment>
FIG. 13 shows a user interface displayed by the processing result display unit 606 of the client computer 601 when the RIP processing and the storage processing of the printer 104 are normally completed and the notification of the storage result from the printer 104 is “normal end”. It is the figure which showed an example.

  In FIG. 14, processing is performed by changing some output settings in the RIP processing of the printer 104 (for example, since the printer 104 does not hold the font specified by the client computer 601, the font setting is changed). FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface displayed by the processing result display unit 606 of the client computer 601 when the storage result notification from the printer 104 is “warning”.

  FIG. 15 illustrates a user interface displayed by the processing result display unit 606 of the client computer 601 when the RIP processing or the storage processing of the printer 104 is not normally completed and the storage result notification from the printer 104 is an error notification. It is the figure which showed an example.

1 is a system configuration diagram of a printing system according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the client computer in FIG. 5 is a memory map when a program is expanded from the FD shown in FIG. 4 to the RAM in FIG. 3 is a memory map representing data inside the FD in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows the relationship with FD inserted with respect to the FD drive in this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a software configuration of the client computer in this invention. It is a figure which shows the job information which the client computer in this invention produces | generates. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a printer according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the job information which the printer in this invention produces | generates. It is the figure which showed the processing sequence of the printing system in this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the client computer in this invention. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of a printer according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a user interface displayed by a processing result notifying unit of a client computer when a printer storage process according to the present invention is completed normally. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a user interface displayed by a processing result notification unit of a client computer when a warning occurs in a printer storage process according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a user interface displayed by a processing result notification unit of a client computer when an error occurs in a printer storage process according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

101, 102, 103 Network computer 104, 105 Network printer 106 Network 200 CPU
201 ROM
202 RAM
203 FD drive 204 FD
205 HD
206 Keyboard 207 Display 208 System Bus 209 Interface 301 Basic I / O Program 302 OS
303 Control Program 304 Related Data 305 Work Area 401 Volume Information 402 Directory Information 403 Control Program 601 Client Computer 602 Application 603 Print Spooler
604 Transfer unit 605 Printer monitoring unit 606 Processing result display unit 801 Communication unit 802 Printer control unit 803 RIP processing unit 804 Data management unit 805 Job storage unit 806 Print processing unit

Claims (4)

An information processing apparatus, and a printing apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus,
In the printing system in which the printing apparatus prints job data transferred from the information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes a transfer unit that transfers the job data and an instruction command to a printing apparatus to the printing apparatus, and includes a command for instructing storage of job data and a command for instructing printing. Monitoring means for monitoring the printing apparatus, having means for transferring a command instructing the saving to the printing apparatus when the instruction for trial printing meaning saving and printing in the printing apparatus is received A display means for displaying the result of the storage process of the printing apparatus acquired by the monitoring means, and the transfer means transfers a command for instructing printing to the printing apparatus in accordance with a print instruction to the display means. Means to
The printing apparatus has a job storage unit for storing job data in the printing apparatus, and the received job data is stored in the storage unit when the instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command instructing storage. Storing means, and notifying means for notifying the result of the storage process to the information processing apparatus, and when the instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command instructing printing, the information is stored in the job storage unit. A printing system comprising means for performing print processing of the job data. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the instruction command includes a command for instructing deletion of job data, and the information processing apparatus deletes the transfer unit to the printing apparatus in accordance with a deletion instruction to the display unit. Means for transferring a command indicating
The printing system includes a unit that performs a deletion process of job data stored in the job storage unit when an instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command to instruct deletion. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the instruction command includes a command for instructing a change in an output setting of job data, and the information processing apparatus includes the transfer unit according to an instruction to change the output setting to the display unit. Has means for transferring a command for instructing change of output setting to the printing apparatus,
The printing apparatus includes means for changing output settings of job data stored in the job storage unit when the instruction command received from the information processing apparatus is a command for instructing change of output settings. And printing system. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit of the printing apparatus includes a unit that transmits image data together with a notification of a result of the storage process.
A printing system, wherein the display means of the printing apparatus has means for displaying a preview of image data.

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