JP3305071B2 - Server device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a server device, and more particularly to a server device for interpreting and reconfiguring a page description language for describing image information such as characters and figures and transmitting the same to a plurality of printers. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional print server system for connecting a black-and-white printer and a color printer, a multi-page document composed of color pages and black-and-white pages is transmitted from an image data source such as a computer system to the system. In order to obtain print output, all pages have been output from a color printer or a black and white printer.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since a black-and-white original is sometimes output from a color printer, there is a problem that it is not preferable in terms of running cost, printing speed, print quality, and the like.

That is, when a black-and-white document is output from a color printer, even if only black-and-white data is transmitted, the printing speed is reduced because development is performed using four color components representing colors. In addition, three colors (Y, M, C)
In the case of a printer expressing black in (color), in addition to the drawback that the speed is low, the registration quality of each pixel is shifted, so that the print quality deteriorates. Further, color printers often use special paper, and running costs are high because special inks or toners are used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and provides a server device for outputting an image containing color information (color information) from a color printer and outputting an image containing no color information from a monochrome printer. The purpose is to:

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, a server device of the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, a color output device and a monochrome output device are connected,
A server device that receives image information from a host computer and controls output of the color output device and the monochrome output device based on the image information, and a receiving unit that receives image information from the host computer; Reconstructing means for reconstructing the image information received by the receiving means into information for outputting a color image and information for outputting a monochrome image, and information for outputting the color image reconstructed by the reconstructing means, The color output device, on the other hand, has transmission means for transmitting the information for outputting the monochrome image to the monochrome output device, and the reconstructing means outputs image control information accompanying the image information, and outputs a color image. And a server device that adds the information to the information to output a monochrome image.
According to another aspect, a color output device and a monochrome output device are connected, image information is received from a host computer, and outputs of the color output device and the monochrome output device are controlled based on the image information. A control method, comprising: a receiving step of receiving image information from the host computer; and a reconstructing step of reconstructing the image information received in the receiving step into information for outputting a color image and information for outputting a monochrome image. And a transmission step of transmitting information for outputting the color image reconstructed in the reconstruction step to the color output device, while transmitting information for outputting the monochrome image to the monochrome output apparatus, The reconstructing step includes converting image control information accompanying the image information into information for outputting a color image and information for outputting a monochrome image. A control method characterized by adding to.

[0007]

With the above arrangement, the present invention interprets and reconstructs image information received from a host computer and outputs color information to a color output device, while outputting monochrome image information to a monochrome output device. The information is transmitted to the device, and operates to add the image control information accompanying the image information in the reconstruction to the information for outputting a color image and the information for outputting a monochrome image.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a print server system (hereinafter, referred to as a system) according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a host computer (hereinafter, referred to as a host) 101 and a host computer (hereinafter, referred to as a host) 102 are connected to a network 103, and a print server (hereinafter, referred to as a server) 104 is also connected to the network 103. I have. The server 104 connects a monochrome printer 105 and a color printer 106. Here, host 1
01 and 102 transmit commands written in PDL (page description language) to the printer via the server 104, while the monochrome printer 105 and the color printer 106
The image is developed based on the received PDL command,
Assume that it has a rasterizing function.

Further, it is assumed that the monochrome printer 105 and the color printer 106 can accept a PDL command of the same language specification. If a command relating to “color” is sent to the monochrome printer 105, the command is ignored. Or print in black and white.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the server 104. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 301 denotes a CP that controls the entire server, analyzes PDL commands, and performs various calculations.
U and 302 are RAMs for downloading programs and used as buffers, 303 is a ROM for storing programs for controlling the system, 304 is a communication interface serving as an interface with the network 103 and the hosts 101 and 102, and 305 and 306 are respectively 307, a printer interface for connecting the monochrome printer 105 and the color printer 106; and 307, an internal bus for connecting the above components and transmitting and receiving data to and from each other.

The server 104 configured as described above plays a role of analyzing a drawing command sent from the host, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, and outputting image data to the monochrome printer 105 and the color printer 106.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a document composed of three pages used in the following description. In FIG. 3, the first page 401 of the document has a colored character in the title part (black part), and the other parts are black characters. The second page 402 of the document includes only black characters, and the third page 403 of the document includes black characters and a color graph.

In the system according to the present embodiment, as described below, with respect to these three-page documents, FIG.
, The first and third pages are output from the color printer 106, and the second page is output from the monochrome printer 105. Such control is performed by the server 104 transmitting the PD transmitted from the host.
This is performed by interpreting L and controlling transmission of image data to each printer.

FIG. 5 is a description example of a PDL command for instructing a printer output so that the three-page documents 401, 402, and 403 shown in FIG. 3 have output results as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the control of the server 104 will be described in order according to the description shown in FIG.

First, a PDL command sequence as shown in FIG. 5 is sent from the hosts 101 and 102 to the server 104 via the network 103.

The PDL command sequence will be described below.

C1 to C4 are commands related to the entire document. Therefore, these commands C1 to C
No. 4 has only one location per document. Commands related to these documents as a whole include:
For example, a character set command (font designation command), a scalable font command (command for specifying whether or not to use a scalable font), a hard reset command (a command for resetting a previous printer use environment), a memory command (memory for development) Is used to specify whether to use as a full page memory or a partial page memory). C1
Is a document setting start command. C2 is a command indicating the output paper size of the document. In this case, A4 is set. The next C3 indicates the direction of the document. There are a portrait and a landscape. In this case, the portrait (PORT) is shown.
C4 is a document setting end command.

C5 to C14 correspond to the first page 40 of the document.
This is a command that outputs 1. C5 is for indicating the start of a command. C6 is a command for selecting the font type of the character. In this case, the font set numbered "2" is selected. C
Numeral 7 sets the size of the font, and a size of "20 points" is selected. C8 is a command for setting the character color. Although it has three parameters, the luminance of each of R (red), G (green) and B (blue) color components is shown in order. This luminance is assumed to be quantized in 256 steps from 0 to 255. For this character, R, G,
B is "255", "0", and "0", respectively, indicating a red color. C9 indicates a character string (TITLE...) To be actually drawn. C10 is a command for selecting a font type similarly to C6. In this case, a font set numbered "1" is selected. C11 sets the size of the font and selects "10 points". C12 determines the font color. In this case, R, G, and B are all "0", indicating a black color. C
Reference numeral 13 denotes a character string (NewYork ...) to be actually drawn. C14 represents the end of the command.

C15 to C20 correspond to the second page 4 of the document.
02 is a command for outputting 02. C15 is for indicating the start of a command. C16 is a command for selecting a font type. In this case, a font set numbered "1" is selected.
C17 is for setting the font size, and "10 points" is selected. C18 determines the font color. In this case, R, G, and B are all "0", indicating a black color. C19 indicates a character string (PDL is...) To be actually drawn. And C2
0 indicates the end of the command.

C21 to C35 correspond to the third page 4 of the document.
03 is a command for outputting 03. C21 is C15
Indicates the start of the command, and indicates the beginning of the third page. C22 to C25 indicate font setting and character drawing as in the first and second pages. C26 indicates the color of the paint on the surface when drawing a figure. The colors are specified in the order of R, G, and B, similarly to the color of the characters. The next command C27 is for specifying the color of a line for drawing graphics.
C28 indicates the coordinates of the position where the figure is drawn. C2
Reference numeral 9 denotes a command for designating a radius at which a circular arc is drawn. In this case, the command 9 indicates a "10" coordinate unit. C30 is for drawing a closed arc. Two parameters in the command indicate a drawing start angle and an end angle when drawing an arc. Assuming that the vertical information is 0 degrees, in this case, 0 to 1
This indicates that a 00-degree arc is drawn. C31-C
Reference numeral 35 designates the designation of surface and line colors, the designation of positions, and the like, similarly to the commands C26 to C30. C36 designates the end of the command.

To summarize the above description, in FIG. 5, reference numeral 601 denotes a document setting command relating to setting of the entire document, and 602 to 604 denote first, second, and third commands, respectively.
The page drawing command of the page is shown.

Next, the server 1 that has received the PDL command
An outline of how the print processing is performed by the printer 04 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S1002, a PDL command is analyzed to reconstruct the command. In step S1003, the image data is sent to the printer, and an output process for discharging the paper or feeding the paper is performed. Further, in step S1004, it is determined whether all pages of the document have been processed, considering that the document is composed of a plurality of pages. Here, if it is determined that the processing of all pages has been completed, the processing is terminated. However, if it is determined that there are still unprocessed pages, the processing returns to step S1002, and the analysis processing is continued. I do.

Next, details of the analysis process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this embodiment,
Since it is necessary to determine whether to use a black and white printer or a color printer for each page,
It is necessary to analyze the DL command to determine whether a color is used for each target page. The details of the analysis process will be described below.

In step S1102, system initialization such as initialization of internal variables of the program is performed. Specifically, memory clearing of a buffer 1 for storing a command for a color printer and a buffer 2 for storing a command for a monochrome printer is performed. In this embodiment, the buffer 1 and the buffer 2
It is secured in another area of M302.

In step S1103, it is determined whether the page of the document to be analyzed is the first page. This is because the process of the next step S1104 is performed only once for each document, and is therefore performed on the first page. If the page is the first page, the process advances to step S1104 to execute a command for the entire document (document setting command: FIG. 5).
C1 to C4) are temporarily stored in a different area of the RAM 302 from the buffer 1 and the buffer 2. On the other hand, if the page is other than the first page, the process proceeds to step S1.
Proceed to 105.

Further processing is performed after step S1105.
Analyzes commands in page units.

In step S1105, a page start command "Page Start (C5, C15, C21 in FIG. 5)" is changed to a page end command "Page End (C14, C20, C3 in FIG. 5).
6) "is performed. In step S1106,
Among these commands are the color setting commands “Font Colo
r, Line Color, Fill Color, etc. ”is determined. If it is determined that a color setting command is included, the process advances to step S1107 to output from the color printer 106. In order to do so, the previously stored document setting command is read out and written into the buffer 1. Subsequently, step S
In 1108, the commands from “Page Start” to “Page End” (C5 to C14 in FIG. 5) are written to the buffer 1. Therefore, 601 and 602 in FIG. 6 are selected, and the buffer setting instruction 70 shown in FIG.
A portion 702 relating to drawing of the first and first pages is stored. In this way, when the reconstruction of the command of the first page is completed, the processing is terminated.

Here, "Page Start" to "Page End"
Of the commands described above, a specific command, for example, a memory command mode may have to be considered for each of a color printer and a monochrome printer. For example, if the capacity of the memory used for the printer is larger than the amount of image information, it can be used as a full page memory, while if the memory capacity is not large, a command to specify as a partial memory is output You may have to do it.

Therefore, steps S1108 and S1110
Does not always write the exact same command to buffers 1 and 2, but in some cases a color printer,
The command is changed and output according to each monochrome printer.

If the analyzing process is related to the command of the second page, the process proceeds to step S1102.
The process proceeds to S1103 and S1105. Then, step S1
In step 106, since it is determined that the parameter setting of the color setting command (C18 in FIG. 5) is all "0", that is, black, the output from the color printer 106 is regarded as unnecessary, and the process proceeds to step S1109. move on.

In step S 1109, the document setting command stored in the processing of the previous page is read and written in the buffer 2. Subsequently, in step S1110, “Page
Commands from “Start” to “Page End” (C1 in FIG. 5)
5 to C20) are written into the buffer 2. Therefore, 601 and 603 in FIG. 5 are selected, and the buffer 2 stores a document setting command 801 and a portion 802 related to drawing the second page as shown in FIG. In this way, the second
When the reconstruction of the page command is completed, the process ends.

When the analysis processing is related to the command of the third page, the same processing as that of the first page is performed, and as shown in FIG.
The command is reconstructed into a portion 902 related to page drawing.

Next, details of the output processing will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The output processing of the first page will be described first, and then the output of the second page will be described.

In step S1202, it is checked whether data is written in the buffer 1. In the case of the first page, since the data is written in the buffer 1, the process proceeds to step S 1203, and outputs the data in the buffer 1 of the RAM 302 to the color printer 106 from the printer interface 305. As a result, the first page 401 of the document is output from the color printer 106.

In the case of the processing of the second page, since data is stored in the buffer 2, the processing advances to step S 1204 according to the judgment of step S 1202, and the data of the buffer 2 of the RAM 302 is output from the printer interface 306 to the monochrome printer 105. I do. As a result, the black and white printer 1
From 06, the document second page 402 is output.

Output processing for the third page is performed in the same manner as for the first page, data is sent to the color printer 106, and the third page 403 of the document is output.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, by analyzing the command on a page-by-page basis, it is determined whether the target page is composed of only black-and-white information or contains color information. An appropriate output printer can be selected.

In this embodiment, the PDL command (document setting command and page drawing command for three pages) sent from the host as shown at 1301 in FIG. Make up,
The output process is performed by sending the data to the selected printer sequentially. That is, the document setting instruction and the first
The page drawing command is combined (1302 in FIG. 12) and transmitted to the color printer. Next, the document setting command and the second page drawing command are combined (130 in FIG. 12).
3) The document is transmitted to the black and white printer, and finally, the document setting command and the drawing command of the third page are combined (13 in FIG. 12).
04) Sent to color printer.

However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the output processing may be performed after the command analysis and the command reconstruction of all pages are completed. In this case, as shown in FIG.
The L command 1301 is converted to the color printer command 140
2 and a command 1403 for monochrome printer, and then output to each printer.

Thus, the color printer and the black and white printer can be operated at the same time, so that the output speed of the entire document can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 14, the host 101 is configured as a system without passing through a network.
May be directly connected to the server 104 connecting the monochrome printer 105 and the color printer 106.

[Second Embodiment] The printer connected in the first embodiment has a rasterizing function of receiving, analyzing, and drawing a PDL command, but in the present embodiment, a printer without a rasterizing function ( A case will be described in which the system is configured using a server to which a bitmap printer can be connected. In the following description, the devices and device components already described in the first embodiment,
When referring to PDL commands, processing steps,
The same reference numerals and reference symbols as used in the first embodiment are used, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a print server system (hereinafter, referred to as a system) according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 15, a host 101 and a host 102 are connected to a network 203, and a print server (hereinafter, referred to as a server) 204 is also connected to the network 203. The server 204 plays a role of, for example, analyzing a drawing command shown in FIG. 17 sent from the host and outputting an image to a printer.
The print server 204 connects the monochrome printer 205 and the color printer 206.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a document composed of three pages sent from the host used in the following description. In FIG. 16, the first page of the document 4
02 includes only black characters, the second page 403 of the document includes a black character and a color graph, and the third page 401 of the document includes a colored character in the title portion (black portion) and black characters in the other portions. It is.

Such a document is represented by C (cyan),
When the image is separated into each color component of M (magenta), Y (yellow), and Bk (black), the original 402
4, magenta image 107, cyan image 110, and black image 113. Since the original 401 is composed of only the black component, it is more efficient to output the image with the black-and-white printer 205 than with the color printer 206. On the other hand, the yellow image 105,
The document 103 includes a magenta image 108, a cyan image 111, and a black image 114. The original 103 includes a yellow image 106, a magenta image 109, a cyan image 112, and a black image 1
15 and must be output by the color printer 206. The image data of each color component is stored in an image memory (not shown) provided in the server 204.
Is stored in

FIG. 17 shows a three-page document 402,
PDL for outputting 403 and 401 from the printer
It is a description example of a (page description language) command. Since the PDL commands shown in FIG. 17 have already been described in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are assigned and the description is omitted here. In any case, the command sequence shown here is sent from the hosts 101 and 102 to the server 204 via the network 203. Next, how the server 204 that has received the PDL command performs the printing process will be described.
The outline will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In step S1002, a PDL command analysis process is performed. In the next step S903, a drawing process for drawing in an image memory (not shown) in the server 204 is performed.
In step 1003, an output process is performed. Further, step S10
At 04, it is determined whether all pages of the document have been processed. In the drawing process, objects such as figures and characters are actually developed and drawn in the memory while referring to device-specific intermediate codes (described later) created in the analysis process.

FIG. 19 is a memory map showing the storage addresses of the image data of each color component in the image memory of the print server 204. As shown in FIG. 23, the address (address 0 to 0xBFFFFF) is Y (yellow), the address (address 0xC00000 to 0x17FFFFF) is M (magenta), and the address (address 0x1800000 to address).
0x23FFFFF) is C (cyan), and an address (0x2400000 to 0x2FFFFFF)
Address) is a storage area for Bk (black). The image data of each color component developed by the drawing process is stored at the above address.

Next, details of the analysis processing will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this embodiment, since it is necessary to determine whether a black-and-white printer or a color printer is used for each page, the PDL command is analyzed to determine whether a color is used for each target page. There is a need. The details of the analysis process will be described below.

The purpose of the analysis process is mainly to analyze a PDL command and generate an intermediate code used in the drawing process. As a result, the device-independent command is converted into a device-dependent command called an intermediate code. For example, in the command shown in FIG.
The coordinates are specified in centimeters (cm) or inches (inch), but are converted to dots in the intermediate code. In addition, the color designation is also converted from RGB expression to CMYBk expression, which is data suitable for the color material (toner or the like) of the device.

After the initialization in step S1102, in the command analysis processing in step S403, the commands shown in FIG. 17 are sequentially read and analyzed to set various parameters for creating an intermediate code.

If it is determined in step S404 that the analyzed command is not a color setting command, the flow advances to step S501 to create a device-dependent intermediate code. On the other hand, if the analyzed command is a color setting command, the process advances to step S405 to change the color expression to RGB.
Conversion (masking) from the representation in space to the representation in CMYBk space. Then, steps S406 to S4
In 13, the flag (CFLG) is set to "ON" unless one of the Y, M, and C components of the conversion result is "0".
If the value of the Bk component is not “0”, the flag (BWFL)
G) is set to “ON”. Note that these flags (CFL)
G, BWFLG) are set to “OFF” in the initialization in step S1102.

For example, Y = 100, M = 100, C =
0, Bk = 0, CFLG = ON and BWFLG = O
If FF, Y = 0, M = 0, C = 0, Bk = 255, CFLF = OFF and BWFLG = ON.

When ON / OFF of these flags is determined, the process proceeds to step S501 to generate an intermediate code. Next, in step S502, it is checked whether or not all commands for one page have been analyzed. If it is determined that the analysis has been completed, the process ends. If not, the process returns to step S403 to read the next command. Proceed with analysis.

Next, details of the output processing will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the output process, the developed image recorded in the image memory of the server 204 is output to the printer.

First, in step S802, various parameters required for output processing are initialized, and in step S803, it is determined whether the conditions of CFLG = "OFF" and BWFLG = "ON" are satisfied.

If the above conditions are satisfied, the process advances to step S804 to set parameters, select an interface, and initialize the printer for output from the monochrome printer 205. Subsequently, in step S805, data is output to the printer only from the area of the image memory where the information of Bk is stored, and when the data output is completed, a paper ejection command is issued to the printer. As a result, a black and white original is actually output from the printer.

On the other hand, if the above condition is not satisfied, the process proceeds to step S806, where the color printer 20
For output from the printer 6, parameter setting, interface selection, printer initialization, etc. are performed. continue,
In step S807, Y, M, C, and Bk of the image memory
The data is output to the color printer 206 from the area where the information of each color component is stored, and a paper ejection command is issued. As a result, a color original is output from the color printer 206.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, by analyzing the PDL command, it is determined whether the target page is composed of only black and white information or contains color information. You can select an output printer.

In this embodiment, the flags (CFLG, BW
The setting of ON / OFF of FLG) was performed in the analysis process, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, this processing may be performed in the drawing processing. In this case, the drawing process is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. The processing will be described below.

First, in step S702, initialization such as clearing of image memory, initialization of parameters, and securing of work memory are performed. In step S703, the intermediate code generated in the previous analysis processing is referred to. Next, step S
In step 704, an address to be actually drawn in the image memory is calculated. At this time, the address (ADR) is 0 ≦ ADR ≦ 0x
It is checked in step S705 whether the value is 2400000. If this condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S70
6, the flag (CFLG) is set to “ON”, and if this condition is not satisfied, the process proceeds to step S707, and the flag (BWFLG) is set to “ON” (the flag (CFLG is initialized by the initialization in step S702). , B
WFLG) is initially set to “OFF”).

Next, in step S708, drawing is actually performed on the memory. Since what has just been described relates to the rendering of one pixel in rendering an object, it is determined in step S709 whether rendering has been completed for the entire object (circle, rectangle, character, etc.).
If it is determined that the drawing is not completed, the process proceeds to step S7.
Returning to step 04, address calculation and drawing are repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined that the drawing is completed, the process proceeds to step S710.
Proceed to. In step S710, it is determined whether all of the intermediate code processing has been processed, that is, whether or not processing of all objects has been completed. Here, if it is determined that the processing of all objects has been completed, the drawing processing is completed. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is an unprocessed intermediate code, the process returns to step S703 and refers to the remaining intermediate codes.

As described above, the ON / OFF setting of the flags (CFLG, BWFLG) for each intermediate code can be performed in the drawing process.

The present invention is not limited to a color printer and a monochrome printer, but can be applied to any color output device such as a color display and a monochrome display and a monochrome output device.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to a device composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0068]

As described above, according to the present invention, information for interpreting and reconstructing image information received from a host computer and outputting a color image is output to a color output device, while a monochrome image is output. Since the information to be transmitted is sent to the monochrome output device, even if the information of the document in which the color image and the black and white image are mixed is sent from the host computer, the received information is printed out according to the content in color. There is an effect that the output device and the monochrome output device can be automatically sorted.

As a result, a color image is output from a color printer and a black-and-white image is output from a monochrome printer. This contributes to a reduction in running costs for recording paper and recording materials and an improvement in total printing speed. become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a print server system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a server 104.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document including three pages according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printer output of the document illustrated in FIG. 3;

5 is a description example of a PDL command instructing a printer output so that the three-page document shown in FIG. 3 has an output result as shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a printing process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating details of an analysis process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a reconstructed PDL command.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a reconstructed PDL command.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a reconstructed PDL command.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of output processing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating another example of the reconfiguration of the PDL command.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating another example of the reconfiguration of the PDL command.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating another example of a schematic configuration of the print server system.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a print server system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document including three pages according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a description example of a PDL command for instructing a printer output regarding the three-page document shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a printing process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a memory map showing storage addresses of image data of each color component.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing details of analysis processing according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing details of analysis processing according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing details of output processing according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating details of a drawing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101, 102 Host computer 103, 203 Network 104, 204 Print server 105, 205 Monochrome printer 106, 206 Color printer 301 CPU 302 RAM 303 ROM 304 Communication interface 305, 306 Printer interface 307 Internal bus

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A color output device and a monochrome output device are connected, and image information is received from a host computer.
A server device that controls output of the color output device and the monochrome output device based on the image information, a receiving unit that receives image information from the host computer, and a color image that is received by the receiving unit. Output information, and reconstructing means for reconstructing into a monochrome image output information, the color image output information reconstructed by the reconstructing means is output to the color output device, while the monochrome image information output will have a transmission means for transmitting to the monochrome output device, the reconstruction unit, the image control information associated with the image information
Information to output a color image and output a monochrome image.
A server device which is added to each of information to be input . 2. The server device according to claim 1 , wherein the image control information includes one of a character set, a hard reset command, a scalable font set, and a page format set. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reconstructing unit is configured to add a color output device and a monochrome output device when adding image control information accompanying the image information to each of information for outputting a color image and information for outputting a monochrome image. 2. The server device according to claim 1 , wherein the information is changed to image control information suitable for each device. 4. The server device according to claim 3 , wherein the image control information is image formation control information. 5. The server device according to claim 4 , wherein the image formation control information is information relating to control of a memory used for image formation. 6. The server device according to claim 5 , wherein the information on the memory control is information indicating a full page mode or a partial memory mode. 7. A first image developing means for developing a color image based on the information for outputting the color image, and a second image developing means for developing a monochrome image based on the information for outputting the monochrome image. 2. The server device according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing a color image and a monochrome image developed by said first and second image development means. 8. The server device according to claim 1, wherein the image information received by said receiving means is described in a page description language. 9. The printer according to claim 1, wherein each of the color output device and the monochrome output device is a printer having a function of developing an image based on information transmitted by the transmission unit. Server device. 10. Each said color output device and the monochrome output apparatus, in claim 7, characterized in that a bitmap printer for printing out on the basis of the stored color image and a monochrome image in the storage unit The server device according to the above. 11. A color output device and a monochrome output device.
And receive image information from the host computer.
The color output device and a model based on the image information.
A control method for controlling an output of a nocro output device, comprising: a receiving method for receiving image information from the host computer.
And converting the image information received in the receiving step into a color image.
Reconstruct the information to be output and the information to output a monochrome image
A reconstruction step of forming, the color image the reconstructed in the reconstruction process
The information to be output is sent to the color output device, while
Information to output black and white images is sent to the monochrome output device
And reconstructing the image information.
Information to output color images and monochrome images.
Control method characterized by adding to each of the information to be input
Law.