JPH10119364A - Printing system and printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a printing system and a printing control method capable of sorting printed documents with a simple configuration even when a device such as a multi sorter cannot be additionally connected to a printing device. SOLUTION: Based on print data spooled on an information processing apparatus side, print instruction data relating to the number of copies to be printed by the printing apparatus and the output direction of the printing paper is created. The output direction of the printing paper is controlled. Further, the printing apparatus includes a plurality of cassettes storing sheets of different sizes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing system and a printing control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing system including an information processing apparatus such as a computer and a printing apparatus that receives print data from the information processing apparatus and performs printing, when a plurality of print documents are printed, the number of print copies is reduced. In some cases, output papers need to be sorted for each page, page, or document.

In such a case, conventionally, an output paper can be sorted by additionally connecting a device such as a multi-sorter to the printing device.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional printing system, there is a problem that an apparatus such as a multi-sorter must be additionally connected to the printing apparatus in order to sort output paper.

[0005] Further, when an additional device such as a multi sorter cannot be connected to the printing device, there is a problem that output sheets of a plurality of copies of a printed document cannot be sorted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has a simple system configuration, and can easily sort even if an additional device such as a multi-sorter cannot be connected. It is an object to provide a system and a printing control method.

[0007]

A printing system according to the present invention is configured as follows.

(1) A printing system comprising an information processing apparatus and a printing apparatus for performing printing in accordance with print data from the information processing apparatus, wherein the information processing apparatus performs printing based on spooled print data. Print command data creating means for creating print command data relating to the number of copies to be printed and the output direction of the print paper, wherein the printing apparatus controls the number of print copies and the output direction of the print paper according to the print instruction data. I made it.

(2) In the printing system of (1), the printing apparatus has a plurality of cassettes for storing sheets of different sizes.

(3) In the printing system of the above (2), the print command data creating means creates the command data for switching the sheet feeding direction of the cassette between the vertical direction and the horizontal direction.

(4) In the printing system according to the above (2) or (3), the print command data generating means generates command data for switching the paper feeding direction between the vertical direction and the horizontal direction for each page of the document to be printed. I did it.

(5) In the printing system according to the above (2) or (3), the print command data generating means generates command data for switching a paper feeding direction between a vertical direction and a horizontal direction for each document to be printed. did.

The printing control method according to the present invention is configured as follows.

(6) A print control method for performing printing in accordance with print data from an information processing apparatus, comprising: print command data relating to the number of print copies and the output direction of a print sheet based on print data spooled by the information processing apparatus. To create
The number of copies and the output direction of the printing paper are controlled according to the print command data.

(7) In the printing control method of the above (6), switching between vertical feeding and horizontal feeding is performed for each page. (8) In the printing control method of the above (6), Each time, the mode is switched between vertical and horizontal.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applied. This printing system includes an information processing device such as a computer and a printing device such as a printer, and each device is connected by a communication cable or the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the information processing apparatus of FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU for controlling an information processing apparatus, 2 denotes a RAM used as a work area of the CPU 1, 3 denotes a hard disk (a floppy disk or the like) storing a program of the present invention, and 5 denotes a Centronics port. , 8 are main buses.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a CPU for controlling the printing apparatus, 12 denotes a RAM used as a work area of the CPU 11, and 13 denotes a ROM (floppy disk, CD-R) storing a program for controlling the printing apparatus.
OM, hard disk, etc.), 15 is a Centronics port, 16 is a print processing unit, and 18 is a main bus.

In this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, in the information processing apparatus, the CPU 1 controls the RAM via the main bus 8.
2, the hard disk 3 and the Centronics port 5 are controlled to execute the program. In a printing apparatus, a CPU is used.
11 is a RAM 12 and a ROM 1 via a main bus 18
3. Control the Centronics port 15 and print processing unit 16 to execute the program.

The above program is read from the hard disk 3 into the RAM 2 in the information processing apparatus and executed, and is read from the ROM 13 and executed in the printing apparatus.

The information processing apparatus in the printing system having the above-described configuration uses the print data as a metafile first in the RAM 2.
CPU 1 creates print command data relating to the number of copies to be printed by the printing device and the output direction of the printing paper based on the print data of the metafile, and transmits the created print command data to the printing device. Do.

The printing apparatus is capable of setting a plurality of cassettes containing sheets of different sizes, and executes printing in accordance with print command data received from the information processing apparatus.
U11 controls.

A plurality of copies of the document are printed, and sheets of the same size as the document size requested for printing are fed vertically (sheet feeding in the standard feeding direction in the printing apparatus) and horizontally fed (printing apparatus). In both cases, the paper is switched between vertical paper supply and horizontal paper supply at the stage of generating the print command data, when both of the paper supply directions are possible with respect to the standard paper supply direction. Print command data is created, and the print command data is alternately transmitted to the printing apparatus for the designated number of copies.

In the print command data creation stage,
Either control the paper feed direction to switch between vertical paper feed and horizontal paper feed for each page, or if documents of the same paper size are output continuously, set the paper feed direction to vertical paper feed for each output document. Control to switch to landscape paper feed.

Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4, a description will be given of the creation of print command data and the control processing thereof in the information processing apparatus of the above system. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for determining whether or not to perform printing by switching the paper feeding direction.

First, it is checked whether or not the paper size of the document to be printed is a size that allows vertical and horizontal paper feeding of the printing apparatus (step S101). If it is not possible, printing is performed by normal printing processing (step S101). S120).

If paper feeding in both directions is possible, it is checked whether a vertical paper cassette and a horizontal paper cassette having the same size as the paper size of the document to be printed are set in the printing apparatus (step S102). If the paper cassette is not set, printing is performed by a normal printing process (step S120).

If both cassettes are set, it is checked whether the number of copies of the document to be printed is a plurality of copies (step S103), and if not, printing is performed by ordinary printing processing (step S120).

If the number of copies of the document is a plurality, the printing process is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 or 6 (step S110).

(Embodiment 1) With reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 4 and 5, a description will be given of print command data creation and control processing in the information processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for determining whether or not to perform printing by switching the paper feeding direction.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of generation of print command data for switching a paper feeding direction in units of copies and a control process thereof. Since the flowchart of FIG. 4 has been described above, the description is omitted.

First, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5, a description will be given of the creation of print command data for switching the paper feeding direction in units of the number of copies and its control processing.

Paper is fed vertically from the spooled metafile, and print command data (vertical feed data) for printing one copy of a document is created (step S201).

Similarly, print command data (horizontal paper feed data) for horizontally feeding paper and printing one copy of a document is created (step S202).

Subsequently, a print copy counter (Counte
The value of r) is initialized to 0, and the paper feed direction flag (OriFlag) is initialized to Normal (step S20).
3). If the value of the print copy counter is equal to the designated number of output copies, the process is terminated, and the process returns to the process of FIG. 4 (step S250). If not, the process proceeds to the process of step S215 (step S210).

If the paper feed direction flag (OriFlag) is No
If it is rmal (step S215), the vertical feed data is transmitted to the printing apparatus (step S220), and the feed direction flag (OriFlag) is changed to Rotate. Also, the paper feed direction flag (OriFlag) is set to Nor.
If it is not “mal”, the sheet feeding data is transmitted to the printing apparatus (step S230), and the sheet feeding direction flag (Orifla) is sent.
g) is changed to Normal (step S231).

Then, after transmitting the data of the vertical paper feed or the horizontal paper feed to the printing apparatus, a print copy counter (Counte
r) is increased by 1 (step S240), and step S240
It returns to the process of 210.

(Embodiment 2) With reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 6, a description will be given of the creation of print command data and its control processing in the information processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for determining whether or not to perform printing by switching the paper feeding direction.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of generation of print command data for switching a paper feeding direction for each page of a print document and a control process thereof. Note that FIG. 4 is the same as the above-described flowchart, and a description thereof will be omitted.

First, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6, a description will be given of the creation of print command data for switching the paper feeding direction for each page of a print document and its control processing.

The feed direction flag (OriFlag) is set to No.
rmal (step S301), the page number counter (Pa)
(geCounter) is initialized to 1 (step S302). Then, a page number counter (PageCo
If the number of pages (PageCounter) is smaller than the number of pages of the print document, the process ends and returns to the process of FIG. 4 (Step S250). If the number of pages (PageCounter) is smaller than the number of pages of the print document, the process of Step S315. Move to

If the paper feed direction flag (OriFlag) is No
If it is rmal (step S315), print instruction data for printing the specified number of copies by vertical paper feeding on the PageCounter page of the print document is created (step S320), and the paper feeding direction flag (OriFlag) is changed to Rotate (step S315). S321). In addition, a paper feed direction flag (O
If (riFlag) is not Normal, print command data for printing the specified number of copies on the PageCounter page of the print document by landscape feeding is created (step S330).

Then, the created print command data is transmitted to the printing apparatus (step S340), the value of the page counter (PageCounter) is increased by 1 (step S341), and the process returns to step S310.

(Embodiment 3) The print data processing in the information processing apparatus will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5, 6, and 7.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the print command data for switching the sheet feeding direction in units of the number of copies and the control processing thereof. FIG. 6 is the printing command data for switching the sheet feeding direction in the page unit of the print document. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for switching the sheet feeding direction and performing printing when documents are continuously printed.

The flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 are the same as those described in the first and second embodiments, and a description thereof will be omitted. However, step S203 in FIG.
It is assumed that the initialization of the paper feeding direction flag (OriFlag) performed in the processing in step S301 and the processing in step S301 in FIG. 6 is not performed. Also, a paper feed direction flag (OriFla
g) assumes that the initial value is Normal.

A process for switching the paper feed direction and performing printing when documents are continuously printed will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

It is checked whether the paper size of the document to be printed is a size that allows the printer to feed vertically and horizontally (step S4).
01), if not possible, the paper feed direction flag (OriFla
g) is changed to Normal (step S419), and printing is performed by normal print processing (step S420).

If paper feeding in both directions is possible, it is checked whether a vertical paper cassette and a horizontal paper cassette having the same size as the paper size of the document to be printed are set in the printing apparatus (step S402). If the sheet cassette is not set, the process proceeds to step S419.

If both cassettes are set, it is checked whether there is data in the queue of the Centronics port to which the printing apparatus is connected (step S403). If there is no data, the process proceeds to step S419. Move on to processing.

If there is data, it is checked whether the held final output paper size (PaperSize) data is equal to the paper size of the print document (step S40).
4) If not equal, the process proceeds to step S419.

If they are equal, it is checked whether the printing is performed by switching the paper feeding direction for each page (step S410). If the printing is performed by switching the paper feeding direction for each page, the process proceeds to the processing of FIG. 6 (step S412). Otherwise, the process moves to the process of FIG. 5 (step S411). Then, the final output paper size (PaperSize) is updated with the output paper size (step S429), and the printing process ends (step S430).

Note that the variable (PaperSize) for holding the final output paper size is initialized to a value that does not become the same as any paper size before the process is executed for the first time.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, in this embodiment, the output direction of the print document can be changed with a simple system configuration without additional connection of a device such as a multi-sorter. Sorting can be done easily.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Based on the print data spooled on the information processing device side, print instruction data relating to the number of copies to be printed by the printing device and the output direction of the print paper is created, and the printing device outputs the number of print copies and print paper in accordance with the print instruction data. Since the direction is controlled, it is possible to sort the printed documents with a simple system configuration even if an additional device such as a multi sorter cannot be connected.

Further, according to the present invention, by using a plurality of cassettes containing sheets of different sizes on the printing apparatus side, the creation of the print command data becomes easy.

According to the present invention, in the print command data creation step, print command data for feeding the print paper in the vertical direction and print command data for feeding the print paper in the horizontal direction are created, and each of the print command data is created. By transmitting the specified number of copies to the printing apparatus alternately, it is possible to change the paper feeding direction for each of the specified number of copies and perform printing.

Accordingly, the printing paper is discharged in a different direction for each number of copies, so that the printing paper can be easily sorted and the convenience of the user is improved.

Further, according to the present invention, in the print command data generating step, print command data for feeding the paper is switched for each page by switching the paper feed direction between the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, and the print command data is printed by the printing apparatus. , It is possible to perform printing while changing the paper feeding direction for each page.

Accordingly, the printing paper is discharged in a different direction for each page, so that the printing paper can be easily sorted and the convenience of the user is improved.

Further, according to the present invention, in the print command data creation stage, print command data for feeding the paper is switched for each document by switching the paper feed direction between the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, and the print command data is printed by the printing apparatus. , It is possible to perform printing while changing the paper feeding direction for each document.

Therefore, the printing paper is discharged in a different direction for each document, so that the printing paper can be easily sorted and the convenience of the user is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the information processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the printing apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process of determining whether or not to perform printing by switching a sheet feeding direction in each embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of creation of print command data and control processing thereof according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process of generating print command data and controlling the print command data according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a printing process according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 CPU of information processing device 2 RAM of information processing device 3 Hard disk 5 Centronics port of information processing device 8 Main bus of information processing device 11 CPU of printing device 12 RAM of printing device 13 ROM 15 Centronics port of printing device 16 print processing unit 18 Main bus of printing equipment

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A printing system comprising: an information processing device; and a printing device for performing printing in accordance with print data from the information processing device, wherein the information processing device performs printing on the basis of spooled print data. Print instruction data creating means for creating print instruction data related to the number of prints and the output direction of the printing paper, the printing device,
A printing system, wherein the number of copies and the output direction of printing paper are controlled according to the printing command data. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus includes a plurality of cassettes that store sheets of different sizes. 3. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein the print command data generating means generates command data for switching a sheet feeding direction between a vertical direction and a horizontal direction. 4. The print command data creating means creates command data for switching a sheet feeding direction between a vertical direction and a horizontal direction for each page of a document to be printed.
A printing system according to claim 1. 5. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein the print command data creating unit creates, for each document to be printed, command data for switching a sheet feeding direction between a vertical direction and a horizontal direction. 6. A print control method for performing printing in accordance with print data from an information processing device, comprising: printing command data relating to the number of print copies and a print paper output direction based on print data spooled by the information processing device. A print control method comprising: creating and controlling the number of copies and an output direction of a print sheet according to the print command data. 7. The print control method according to claim 6, wherein switching between vertical feeding and horizontal feeding is performed for each page. 8. The printing control method according to claim 6, wherein switching is performed between vertical paper feeding and horizontal paper feeding for each document.