JP6234057B2 - Printing apparatus, display control method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a display control method, and a program.

In a printing apparatus typified by a printer or the like, an error in print settings or data to be printed can be displayed by presenting the user with a preview image of how the image is printed on the recording medium before actually starting printing. There is a technology that suppresses mistakes and reduces the printing cost.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a technique for providing a preview for confirming how printing is performed in units of jobs.

JP 2011-194875 A

  In the conventional technology as described above, the processing time for the printing apparatus to create various preview images is not understood until the user actually feels the processing time after starting the creation of the preview image, and waits unnecessarily. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a preview display that can select a preview method that the user wants to see and meets the user's request.

Therefore, the printing apparatus of the present invention displays a display method of a plurality of preview images related to a print image together with relative time information required until the preview image is displayed , and at least one of the display methods of the plurality of preview images. A display unit that can select a preview image display method, and a plurality of preview image display methods related to the print image displayed by the display unit. Selection means for selecting a display method, generation means for generating the preview image according to the display method selected by the selection means, and display control means for displaying the preview image generated by the generation means .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to select a preview method that the user wants to see, and to provide a preview display that meets the user's request.

It is a figure for demonstrating a reference example. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface which sets the mode in a reference example. 1 is an overall configuration cross-sectional view of a printing apparatus using a roll sheet. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a software configuration of a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example at the time of displaying the screen for selecting a preview system on a user interface part by control of a user interface control part. It is a flowchart (the 1) which shows the flow of a process of a control part. It is a flowchart (the 2) which shows the flow of a process of a control part. It is a flowchart (the 3) which shows the flow of a process of a control part. It is a figure which shows an example of a job status display. It is a figure which shows an example of a display of a preview image. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a process of a rendering part. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a printer engine unit.

<Reference example>
First, a reference example will be described with reference to FIG.
A printing apparatus 702 that prints an image receives job data such as PDL from an external apparatus 701 such as a PC, processes it, and prints it on a roll sheet or the like.
A control unit 703 in the printing apparatus 702 analyzes a job from the external apparatus 701 and creates a command and data to be transmitted to the rendering unit 704 based on the analysis result and an instruction from the user interface unit 705. The control unit 703 receives the rendered data from the rendering unit 704 and transmits it to the printer engine unit 706.
The user interface unit 705 receives a user instruction and performs a preview display for confirming in advance the print data processing status and print result.
The rendering unit 704 in the printing apparatus 702 includes one or more rendering units, performs rendering processing based on commands and data transmitted from the control unit 703, and transmits rendered bitmap data to the control unit 703.

The printer engine unit 706 in the printing apparatus 702 performs processing such as color conversion on the bitmap data transmitted from the control unit 703, and then prints on a medium such as a roll sheet.
Job data from the external device 701 is first stored in the receiving unit 707 in the control unit 703.
Thereafter, the dividing unit 708 divides the job for each unit instructed to the rendering unit 704, and determines the printing order.
The rendering management unit 709 analyzes what kind of layout the job is based on the job data contents and instructions from the user interface unit 705, and determines which rendering unit 704 to send to in consideration of the operation status of the rendering unit 704. decide.
Based on an instruction from the rendering management unit 709, the communication unit 710 creates and transmits a command for instructing an image processing mode for the rendering unit 704 and divided job data. The mode here is, for example, the presence or absence of image correction processing, the printing surface such as single-sided or double-sided, or the post-process such as side stitching or saddle stitching. FIG. 2 shows an example of a user interface for setting these modes.

The rendering unit 704 receives the command and the divided job data transmitted from the control unit 703 by the communication unit 712 and performs a rendering process by the conversion processing unit 713.
The conversion processing unit 713 performs image correction processing, PDL rasterization processing, color processing, imposition processing, and the like.
The image correction process is a correction process specified by a command for the image data in the divided job data.
The PDL rasterization process is a process for interpreting the PDL and performing logical drawing or the like to create bitmap data.

The color processing is color conversion processing prior to color conversion processing in the color conversion unit in the printer engine unit 706. This process is a pre-process for producing a subtle difference in reproduction such as warm black, cold black, and pure black in monochrome processing in the color conversion unit in the printer engine unit 706, for example. For example, warm black is a reproduction of gray with a little red in order to get a warm impression in monochrome processing, and cold black is a reproduction of gray with a little bluish in order to get a cold impression. Yes, pure black reproduces neutral black. In monochrome processing, conversion is performed using a pre-monochrome table corresponding to the monochrome mode, and the color conversion unit in the printer engine unit 706 is designed in advance so as to perform the above gray reproduction according to the conversion result of the pre-monochrome table. It is assumed that
The imposition processing is performed by, for example, two pages for one page in the case of saddle stitching, depending on the printing method such as single-sided or double-sided binding, such as side stitching or saddle stitching specified by a command from the control unit 703. It is a process of imposing on.
The bitmap data that has undergone the imposition process is sent from the communication unit 712 to the communication unit 710 in the control unit 703.
Bitmap data received by the communication unit 710 is stored in the spool unit 711.

The control unit 703 sends the bitmap data in the spool unit 711 and the header information of the bitmap data to the printer engine unit 706 in the order to be printed.
When printing an image on both sides of a continuous sheet such as roll paper, the following control has been performed to reduce the time for switching between the front surface and the back surface and perform printing efficiently. That is, control is performed in which a plurality of jobs are combined, the front surfaces are collected and output to the printer engine unit 706, and the front surface and the back surface are switched and then the back surface is printed.
The printer engine unit 706 performs color conversion processing on the received bitmap data based on the contents of the header information of the bitmap data. In the header information, information such as whether the data is monochrome mode or color mode is held. Here, in the color conversion process, for example, the color conversion table 1 is used in the color mode, and the color conversion table 2 is used in the monochrome mode. The color conversion here means color conversion such as color management in the color mode, and monochrome processing such as warm black, cold black, and pure black is performed in the monochrome mode according to the result processed by the rendering unit 704. It is what is said. After such processing, for example, it is converted into CMYK, which is a color space handled by the printer engine unit 706, and further binarization processing is performed as necessary. The data after the color conversion process is printed on the medium.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the overall configuration of a printing apparatus using a roll sheet (a continuous continuous sheet longer than the length of a printing unit in the transport direction). Here, the “printing apparatus” is not limited to a dedicated machine specialized in the printing function, but includes a complex machine that combines the printing function and other functions, a manufacturing apparatus that forms an image or pattern on recording paper, and the like. .
The printing apparatus includes a roll sheet unit 101, a transport unit 102, a transport encoder 103, a rotation roller 104, a head unit 105, a print head 106, a scanner unit 107, a control unit 108, an ink tank 109, and a cutter unit 110. The printing apparatus further includes a back surface printing unit 111, a drying unit 112, a sheet winding unit 113, a sorting unit 114, and an operation unit unit 115. These are arranged in the apparatus casing.
The control unit 108 incorporates a controller having a controller, a user interface, and various I / O interfaces, and controls various controls of the entire apparatus.
The roll sheet unit 101 includes two units, an upper sheet cassette 101a and a lower sheet cassette 101b. A user attaches a roll sheet (hereinafter referred to as a sheet) to the magazine, and inserts it into the printing apparatus main body from the front and attaches it. The sheet pulled out from the upper sheet cassette 101a is conveyed in the direction a in the drawing, and the sheet pulled out from the lower sheet cassette 101b is conveyed in the direction b in the drawing. Sheets from any cassette unit travel in the direction c in the figure and reach the transport unit 102.

The conveyance unit 102 conveys the sheet in the direction d (horizontal direction) in the drawing during printing through the plurality of rotating rollers 104.
A head unit 105 is disposed above the transport unit 102 so as to face each other. In the head unit 105, independent print heads 106 for a plurality of colors (seven colors in the embodiment) are held along the sheet conveyance direction. In synchronization with the conveyance of the sheet by the conveyance unit 102, ink is ejected from the print head 106, and an image is formed on the sheet. The transport unit 102, the head unit 105, and the print head 106 constitute a printing unit.
The ink tank 109 stores ink of each color independently. Ink is supplied from the ink tank 109 to a sub tank provided corresponding to each color by a tube, and ink is supplied from the sub tank to each print head 106 by a tube. In the print head 106, line heads of respective colors (seven colors in the embodiment) are arranged along the conveyance direction d during printing. The line head of each color may be formed with a single nozzle tip without a seam, or the divided nozzle tips may be regularly arranged in a single row or a staggered arrangement. . In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a so-called full multihead in which nozzles are arranged in a range covering the printing width of the maximum sheet to be used is employed. As an ink jet method for ejecting ink from a nozzle, a method using a heating element, a method using a piezo element, a method using an electrostatic element, a method using a MEMS element, or the like can be adopted. Ink is ejected from the nozzles of each head based on the print data, and the ejection timing is determined by the output signal of the transport encoder 103. In this embodiment, the present invention is not limited to an ink jet printer, and various printing methods such as a thermal printer (sublimation type, thermal transfer type, etc.), dot impact printer, LED printer, laser printer, and the like can be applied.

The image-formed sheet is conveyed from the conveyance unit 102 to the scanner unit 107. The scanner unit 107 reads a print image or special pattern to check whether there is a problem with the print image or to check the state of the apparatus. In this embodiment, in the image confirmation method, a method of reading a pattern for confirming the head state, a method of comparing with the original image, or the like can be selected.
The sheet conveyed from the scanner unit 107 is conveyed in the e direction and introduced into the cutter unit 110. The cutter unit 110 cuts the sheet every predetermined printing unit length. The length of a predetermined printing unit varies depending on the image size to be printed. For example, the length in the transport direction is 135 mm for the L-size photograph, and the length in the transport direction is 297 mm for the A4 size.
The sheet conveyed from the cutter unit 110 is conveyed in the direction f in the drawing and is conveyed to the back surface printing unit 111. The back surface printing unit 111 is a unit for printing information (for example, order management number) for each print image.

The drying unit 112 conveyed from the back surface printing unit is a unit that heats a sheet that passes through the unit in the direction g in the drawing with warm air in order to dry the sheet provided with ink in a short time. The sheets cut to the printing unit length pass through the drying unit 112 one by one, are conveyed in the h direction in the figure, and are conveyed to the sorting unit 114. In the sorting unit 114, sheets passing in the direction i in the figure are stacked on a tray number set for each print image while being confirmed by a sensor. The sorting unit 114 holds a plurality of trays (22 stages in the embodiment), and sorts the trays to be loaded according to the length of the printing unit. Further, it is performed using a status display such as loading or completion of loading (for example, displayed by LED).
The sheet winding unit 113 first performs surface image formation in duplex printing, and winds the passing sheet in the direction j in the drawing without cutting by the cutter unit 110. The sheet winding unit 113 is a unit for transporting the wound sheet again in the k direction in the unit diagram and printing the back image after completion of all the front surface image formations.
The operation unit 115 confirms the printing status for each order, such as which tray the specified order image is loaded on, or whether printing is in progress or printing is completed, and the status of the device such as the remaining amount of ink and the remaining amount of paper. This is a unit for the operator to operate / confirm to confirm.
When the control unit of the control unit 108 executes processing based on the program stored in the memory or the like of the control unit 108, a software configuration included in the control unit 203 or the rendering unit 204 of the printing apparatus described later is realized. . Further, the control unit 108 executes processing based on a program stored in the memory or the like of the control unit 108, thereby realizing processing according to a flowchart described later.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the software configuration of the printing apparatus 202.
A printing apparatus 202 that prints an image processes job data such as PDL from an external apparatus 201 such as a PC and prints it on a roll sheet or the like.
The control unit 203 analyzes the job from the external device 201 and creates commands and data to be transmitted to the rendering unit 204 and preview method selection information based on the analysis result and instructions from the user interface unit 205. Further, the control unit 203 receives the rendered data from the rendering unit 204 and transmits it to the user interface unit 205 to display a preview image, and transmits it to the printer engine unit 206 to perform printing.
The rendering unit 204 includes one or a plurality of units, and performs rendering processing based on commands and data transmitted from the control unit 203 and preview method selection information, and generates print bitmap data and preview data. Thereafter, the rendering unit 204 transmits the rendered bitmap data to the control unit 203 via the communication unit 212.
The user interface unit 205 receives operation instructions and displays preview data. The user interface unit 205 is an example of the operation unit unit 115.

The printer engine unit 206 performs processing such as color conversion on the bitmap data transmitted from the control unit 203, and then performs printing on a medium such as a roll sheet.
Job data from the external device 201 is first stored in the receiving unit 207 in the control unit 203.
The preview method selection acquisition unit 214 acquires preview method selection information for job data from the received job data or the user interface unit 205 and notifies the job management unit 208 of the information.
Thereafter, the job management unit 208 divides the job for each unit instructed to the rendering unit 204, and determines the printing order.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example when a screen for selecting a preview method is displayed on the user interface unit 205 under the control of the user interface control unit 215. On the screen, various preview methods and the time (time information) required to generate the preview are displayed and can be selected by the user. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the user can select at least one preview method on the screen shown in FIG. 5, which is displayed as standard, and which can be selected at the generation stage. Can be specified. In addition, the printing apparatus 202 may limit the selectable items (preview method) in accordance with the contents of the selection items and the user who operates the printing apparatus 202 (user authority or user security level). Good.
Information used for preview, such as the acquired preview method selection information and printing order, is notified to the user interface control unit 215.

The rendering management unit 209 analyzes the layout of the corresponding job according to the job data contents and instructions from the user interface unit 205, and transmits to which rendering unit 204 in view of the operation status of the rendering unit 204. To decide.
Based on an instruction from the rendering management unit 209, the communication unit 210 creates and transmits an image processing mode and preview method selection information command and divided job data to the rendering unit 204. The mode here is, for example, the presence or absence of image correction processing, the printing surface such as single-sided or double-sided, or the post-process such as side stitching or saddle stitching.
The control unit 203 controls the user interface unit 205 for displaying a job status and preview data, which will be described later, through the user interface control unit 215.

The rendering unit 204 receives the command and the divided job data transmitted from the control unit 203 by the communication unit 212 and performs a rendering process by the conversion processing unit 213.
The conversion processing unit 213 includes an image correction processing unit 216, a PDL rasterization processing unit 217, a color processing unit 218, an imposition processing unit 219, and the like.
The image correction processing unit 216 performs image correction specified by the command on the image data in the divided job data.
The PDL rasterization processing unit 217 performs processing for creating bitmap data by interpreting PDL and performing logical drawing or the like.
The color processing unit 218 performs color conversion prior to color conversion processing in the color conversion unit in the printer engine unit 206. The color processing unit 218 performs, for example, pre-processing for producing a subtle difference in reproduction such as warm black, cold black, and pure black in monochrome processing in the color conversion unit in the printer engine unit 206. For example, warm black reproduces gray with a little red in order to obtain a warm impression in monochrome processing, and cold black reproduces gray with a little bluish in order to obtain a cold impression. Yes, pure black reproduces neutral black. In the monochrome processing, the color processing unit 218 performs conversion using a pre-monochrome table corresponding to the monochrome mode, and the color conversion unit in the printer engine unit 206 performs gray reproduction according to the conversion result of the pre-monochrome table. It shall be designed in advance. The imposition processing unit 219 selects two pages for one page, for example, in the case of saddle stitching, depending on the printing method such as single-sided or double-sided binding, such as side stitching or saddle stitching, specified by a command from the control unit 203. Imposition the media. It is the rendering management unit 209 in the control unit 203 that considers the imposition considering the page layout.

The bitmap data that has undergone the imposition process is sent from the communication unit 212 to the communication unit 210 in the control unit 203. At the same time, status information regarding bitmap data is transmitted to the control unit 203. The status information is information indicating whether the job has been normally rendered or an error has occurred, and is used for displaying the job status on the user interface unit 205. For example, when an error occurs in the conversion processing unit 213 in the rendering unit 204, error status information is passed to the control unit 203 via the communication unit 212 and the communication unit 210. Also, the preview image generation unit 220 generates a preview image from the result of each process of the conversion processing unit 213 and the preview method selection information. The generated preview image is sent from the communication unit 212 to the communication unit 210 in the control unit 203.
A user interface control unit 215 of the control unit 203 performs display control for displaying a preview image generated based on the status of each job and preview method selection information on the user interface unit 205.
The bitmap data received by the communication unit 210 is stored in the spool unit 211.
The control unit 203 sends the bitmap data in the spool unit 211 and the header information of the bitmap data to the printer engine unit 206 in the order to be printed.

The printer engine unit 206 performs color conversion processing on the received bitmap data based on the content of the header information of the bitmap data. In the header information, information such as whether the data is monochrome mode or color mode is held. In the color conversion process, for example, the color conversion table 1 is used in the color mode, and the color conversion table 2 is used in the monochrome mode. The color conversion here refers to color conversion such as color management in the color mode. In the monochrome mode, monochrome processing such as warm black, cold black, or pure black is performed according to the result processed by the rendering unit 204. Is to do.
After such processing, for example, it is converted into CMYK, which is a color space handled by the printer engine unit 206, and further binarized processing is performed as necessary. The data after the color conversion process is printed on the medium.
Note that the arrows in FIG. 4 are examples of delivery of data, sending of instruction commands (instructions), and the like, and are not limited thereto.

Next, the processing flow of the control unit 203 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. The process of the control unit 203 is divided into a process of passing data to the rendering unit 204, a process of receiving data from the rendering unit 204, and a process of giving a display instruction to the user interface unit 205.
The process of FIG. 6 is a process of passing data to the rendering unit 204.
In step S801, the job management unit 208 performs job division processing into units that can be easily processed by the job analysis and rendering unit 204. In the job analysis process, the job management unit 208 analyzes whether the job is a color job or a monochrome job, further analyzes what kind of layout or image correction setting the job is, and what kind of preview should be performed, and prints the job Determine the order. These settings of the job are transmitted from the external apparatus 201 as job data, or are made by selecting a menu or the like via the user interface unit 205.

In step S802, the rendering management unit 209 creates a command. Based on the analysis result, the rendering management unit 209 creates a command for instructing the rendering unit 204 an image processing mode and a necessary preview image. The rendering management unit 209 determines to which rendering unit 204 a job should be transmitted according to the command and the load state of the rendering unit 204. When the divided job data and the command are ready, the rendering management unit 209 shifts the processing to step S803.
In step S <b> 803, the communication unit 210 transmits job data and a corresponding command to the rendering unit 204. The communication unit 210 returns the process to step S801 after step S803. In step S801, the job management unit 208 analyzes the next job.

The process in FIG. 7 is a process for receiving data from the rendering unit 204.
In step S <b> 901, the communication unit 210 receives bitmap data and corresponding job status information from the rendering unit 204.
In step S902, the job management unit 208 updates the job status to indicate that rendering has ended.
In step S903, the rendering management unit 209 determines whether the rendering result is an error. The rendering management unit 209 determines whether the rendering result is an error based on the job status information received in step S901. If the job is an error in the rendering unit 204, the fact is described in the job status information, so that it is determined as an error in step S903.
In step S904, the job management unit 208 updates the status of the job corresponding to the job ID to an error status.
In step S905, the communication unit 210 stores the bitmap data in the spool unit 211.

In step S909, the user interface control unit 215 determines whether the spooled data is print data or preview data.
If it is determined that the data is print data, in step S906, the job management unit 208 updates the job status to an output waiting state.
In step S907, the control unit 203 sends the bitmap data in the spool unit 211 and the header information of the bitmap data to the printer engine unit 206 in the order to be printed.
After sending, in step S908, the job management unit 208 updates the job status to the outputting state.
Thereafter, the job management unit 208 shifts the processing to step S901. In step S901, the communication unit 210 receives the next bitmap data.
If it is determined in step S909 that the preview data has been spooled, the user interface control unit 215 updates the preview status and notifies the user interface control unit 215 in step S910. Thereafter, the user interface control unit 215 shifts the processing to step S901. In step S901, the communication unit 210 receives the next bitmap data.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the display process.
In step S101, the user interface control unit 215 determines whether the current mode is the job status display mode.
The user interface control unit 215 can perform various display processes according to the design.
For example, in step S101, the user interface control unit 215 determines whether the job status display mode is set. If the job status display mode is set, the user interface control unit 215 displays the job status as shown in FIG. On the other hand, if not, in step S106, the user interface control unit 215 determines whether or not the preview display mode is set.
If the preview display mode is selected, the user interface control unit 215 performs the preview display as shown in FIG. 10 on the user interface unit 205. If not, the user interface control unit 215 determines whether or not the menu mode is selected in step S110.
If the user interface control unit 215 is in the menu mode, the user interface unit 205 displays the menu as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 in step S111. If not, the user interface control unit 215 ends the mode determination process.

Processing in the case of the job status display mode in S101 will be described.
In this mode, the user interface control unit 215 displays the job status on the user interface unit 205. The user interface control unit 215 performs control for displaying the status of each job on the user interface unit 205. The job status is configured to be updated to the latest information sequentially.
In step S102, the user interface control unit 215 updates the job to be displayed. The user interface control unit 215 performs processing such as adding a newly added job to a display list or the like, and deleting a job that has become unnecessary after output is completed from the display list or the like. The user interface control unit 215 associates all job status information such as addition and deletion of jobs with job IDs.
In step S103, the user interface control unit 215 acquires the latest job status information corresponding to the job ID, and updates the display table.
In step S104, the user interface control unit 215 displays the display table on the user interface unit 205 or the like.
In step S105, the user interface control unit 215 returns the process to step S101 after a waiting time of, for example, several ms, if necessary.

Next, processing in the case where the preview display mode is set in S106 will be described.
In this mode, the user interface control unit 215 performs preview display set from the job data or the user interface unit 205 on the user interface unit 205. The user interface control unit 215 performs control for displaying on the user interface unit 205 based on information related to preview display. The preview display is configured to be updated to the latest information sequentially.
In step S107, the user interface control unit 215 updates the preview status to be displayed. The user interface control unit 215 performs processing such as adding a newly added job to a display list or the like, and deleting a job that has become unnecessary after output is completed from the display list or the like. The user interface control unit 215 associates all job status information such as addition and deletion of jobs with job IDs. The user interface control unit 215 acquires the latest information on the job status corresponding to the job ID, and updates the display table.
In step S108, the user interface control unit 215 displays these display table and preview data on the user interface unit 205 according to the preview selection information. At this time, if a preview display method other than the display method specified as the selection candidate in the preview selection information is available, the user interface control unit 215 also displays that the screen can be changed.
Thereafter, in step S109, the user interface control unit 215 returns the process to step S101 after a waiting time of, for example, several ms as necessary.

Next, the processing of the rendering unit 204 will be described with reference to FIG.
In step S <b> 1101, the rendering unit 204 receives the command and the divided job data transmitted from the control unit 203 by the communication unit 212.
In step S1102, the rendering unit 204 determines whether to perform image correction processing according to the command. When the image correction process is not necessary, the rendering unit 204 proceeds to step S1105. If image correction processing is necessary, the rendering unit 204 proceeds to step S1103 and performs image correction processing according to the command.
In step S1104, the rendering unit 204 determines whether the above processing has been performed on all objects included in the job data.
The processing from step S1102 to S1104 is repeated until all objects for the job data are exhausted. After the data necessary for rasterizing the PDL is collected, the rendering unit 204 performs PDL rasterization processing in step S1105.
The rendering unit 204 performs color processing on the generated bitmap image in step S1106 and imposition processing in step S1107 according to the command, and creates an output bitmap.
In step S <b> 1108, the rendering unit 204 transmits the created bitmap to the control unit 203 via the communication unit 212.

In step S <b> 1109, the rendering unit 204 transmits status information indicating whether the processing result in the rendering unit 204 has succeeded to the control unit 203 via the communication unit 212.
In each process from step S1105 to S1107, the rendering unit 204 performs a process of generating preview data after the end of each process in steps S1110 to S1112.
For example, after the PDL rasterization process in step S1105 is completed, the rendering unit 204 transitions to step S1110, and starts preview data generation in step S1113.
In step S1114, the rendering unit 204 determines whether the data generated by the corresponding processing is necessary for the preview based on the preview method selection information specified by the command.
If the generation is not necessary, the rendering unit 204 proceeds to step S1117 and ends the preview data generation process.
If generation is necessary, the rendering unit 204 transmits the generated intermediate data to the control unit 203 via the communication unit 212 in step S1115.
In step S1116, the rendering unit 204 notifies the control unit 203 of preview data generation in the rendering unit 204.

Next, processing of the printer engine unit 206 will be described with reference to FIG.
In step S <b> 121, the printer engine unit 206 receives bitmap data from the control unit 203.
In step S122, the printer engine unit 206 performs color conversion on the received bitmap data based on the content of the header information of the data. In the header information, information such as whether the data is monochrome mode or color mode is held. For example, the printer engine unit 206 uses different color conversion tables for the color mode and the monochrome mode. After such processing, it is converted into, for example, CMYK, which is a color space handled by the printer engine unit 206, and further binarized processing is performed as necessary.
In step S123, the printer engine unit 206 sends the data after the color conversion process to the print unit or the like. The sent data is printed on a medium by a print unit or the like.

Hereinafter, an example of the preview display method will be described in detail.
The printing apparatus rolls up roll paper to realize double-sided printing. Since winding takes time, it is not efficient to switch between jobs for duplex printing. Therefore, productivity can be improved by grouping a plurality of jobs that can be printed on the same roll paper, printing the first side together, performing a winding operation, and printing the second side.
FIG. 10 described above shows an example of the preview display method, in which a representative screen of each job is displayed to indicate the print order of the jobs. A portion surrounded by a dotted line indicates a job group, and a reason why the job group cannot be formed is displayed on the boundary of the dotted line.

There are various reasons why a job group cannot be formed, such as device restrictions, job settings, and sudden errors. Information that can be assumed in the preview display is displayed before printing. As information that can be assumed before printing,
・ Job settings are different ・ Printer settings are different ・ Group setting is not set ・ Group forming job does not exist ・ There is no paper ・ Grouping result exceeds the winding length. Also, information that can be predicted from the information of the device can be displayed.
・ Scheduled for maintenance ・ Close to trash can ・ Close to no ink ・ Data is delayed Preview of this information, user can review job order and settings, and execute job so that more job groups can be formed This is expected to improve productivity. For example, if a job group is not formed because the job settings are different, it is desirable to change the job order so that jobs with the same setting are submitted together. Alternatively, if a process of performing alternative printing on a larger sheet and cutting later is possible, it is possible to print by grouping jobs having different output sheet sizes by adding an alternative print setting. .

In order to display this preview method, it is only necessary to know the contents of the representative page for each job data. Therefore, the preview image data creation instruction from the control unit 203 to the rendering unit 204 creates only the contents of the representative page. Can be indicated.
When the preview image data is generated, the control unit 203 creates and displays a preview screen from the printing order information determined by the job management unit 208 of the control unit 203 and the preview image data.
Since it is not necessary to perform all rendering as described above, for example, the control unit 203 requests the rendering unit 204 only for the first page of the input job in order to immediately preview the job status. As described above, the control unit 203 may control the order of requests to the rendering unit 204 based on the preview method selection information.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

As described above, according to each of the above-described embodiments, it is possible to select one of a plurality of preview methods and select a preview method that the user wants to see from job data or a user interface. By specifying the content that the user wants to see, the user does not have to wait until a preview image of unnecessary information is created.
When the preview method is selected, the time taken until the preview is displayed is relatively displayed. Thereby, the user can select the preview display in consideration of the contents and the generation time.
As one of the preview methods, the job order is displayed, information on whether the printing apparatus can continuously print between jobs is displayed, and the cause is displayed when continuous printing is not possible. In this way, the user can consider changing the printing order and print settings, and can perform continuous printing without stopping the printing apparatus.
Therefore, it is possible to select a preview method that the user wants to see, and to provide a preview display that meets the user's request.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims.・ Change is possible.

Claims (6)

A display method of a plurality of preview images related to the print image is displayed together with relative time information required until the preview image is displayed, and the user can select a display method of at least one of the plurality of preview image display methods. Display means for displaying selectable;
A selection unit that selects at least one preview image display method in accordance with a user operation among a plurality of preview image display methods related to the print image displayed by the display unit;
Generating means for generating the preview image according to the display method selected by the selecting means;
Display control means for displaying the preview image generated by the generating means;
A printing apparatus. The generation unit generates a preview image including information on whether or not continuous printing can be performed between a job order and jobs according to printing according to the display method selected by the selection unit;
Wherein the display control unit, according to claim 1 Symbol placement of the printing device displays the preview image. The generation unit generates a preview image further including information that cannot be continuously printed when continuous printing is not possible,
The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the display control unit displays the preview image. The display means displays the display method in a selectable manner by the user when the preview of the display method other than the display method of the preview image selected by the selection unit can generate an image. printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A display control method executed by a printing apparatus,
A display method of a plurality of preview images related to the print image is displayed together with relative time information required until the preview image is displayed, and the user can select a display method of at least one of the plurality of preview image display methods. A display step to selectably display;
A selection step of selecting at least one preview image display method according to a user operation from among a plurality of preview image display methods related to the print image displayed in the display step;
A generation step of generating the preview image according to the display method selected in the selection step;
A display control step for displaying the preview image generated by the generation step;
A display control method including: The program for functioning a computer as each means of the printing apparatus in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4 .

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