JPH11212739A - Print controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce time loss which accompanies the temporal stop and restart of a printer during printing and to obtain accurate output results by changing the print order of page data so that the page data of the same attribute may be collected. SOLUTION: When a print job is inputted, an inputting means 101 stores page data in a storing means 104 and receives a page ID string that shows its storage place. A controlling means 102 adds job data that are received from the means 101 to a batch queue as an output batch. Further, it retrieves the batch queue with a print job attribute as a key and if there is a batch that has the same attribute, it adds output information which includes a string of a storage page ID to the batch. Print attributes are a paper size, color/black- and-white, both surface/single surface, etc. The means 102 fetches data from the head of the batch queue, gives an output instruction that consists of the print attributes and the string of page IDs to an outputting means 103 and instructs printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a print control device. More specifically, the paper size used for printing, the paper tray that supplies the paper used for printing, color pages and black-and-white pages, double-sided pages and single-sided pages, the type of recording medium used to print the pages or the page The present invention relates to a print control apparatus that efficiently executes print output in which various print modes such as a discharge destination are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a basic configuration of a print execution mode by a conventional print control apparatus, a printer is started for each input page, prints for the input pages are performed, and the printer is stopped when printing is completed. There is a print control device that executes print control, but in this print control device, when printing a plurality of pages, it is necessary to start and stop the printer by the number of pages, and when printing a large number of pages Was inefficient.

Further, as another conventional print control apparatus, when printing a document consisting of a plurality of pages, the printer is activated, the pages included in the document are continuously printed, and after the printing is completed, the printer is stopped. Some are. According to the print control apparatus of this system, high-speed printing can be performed as compared with the above-described configuration in which starting and stopping are repeated in page units. However, even in this apparatus, starting and stopping of the printer are performed in document units, so when printing a plurality of documents,
It was necessary to start and stop the printer by the number of documents. Further, in this method, when a document includes pages having a plurality of attributes, that is, pages having different printing attributes such as paper size and paper tray, or double-sided / single-sided or color / monochrome, Each time these attributes change, it is necessary to temporarily stop the printer, switch the mode to the print attribute, restart the printer, and print the subsequent page.

[0004]

Some printers take time to start and stop. For example, a xerography printer requires a polygon mirror, photoreceptor drum, and developer to operate at a constant speed during printing.
It takes time for the motors that drive these to start rotating and reach a certain speed. Further, since the fixing portion is fixed on the paper by melting the toner with heat, it needs to be kept at a high temperature during operation. It may take time to heat this to the operating temperature by the heater. Also, when the motor temporarily stops, it is necessary to wait for the motor to completely stop.

[0005] Therefore, in the conventional printer control configuration which requires starting and stopping of the printer for each page or for each document, the processing time of the printer start and stop operations is added to the processing time of the print processing. The time required for it became long.

In some documents, pages having different printing modes such as output paper size, output direction, monochrome printing, and color printing are mixed in one document. If you just want to speed up the printing, you can arrange the pages to be printed based on the attributes of the pages, but if you simply rearrange the pages, the pages in the document selected as the output result The order of the documents may be out of order, or pages of a plurality of different documents may be mixed in the output document, and sorting after output may be required.

An object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus which solves the above-mentioned various problems in printing by a conventional print control apparatus, and minimizes a time loss caused by temporarily stopping and restarting a printer during printing. It is another object of the present invention to provide a print control apparatus that controls a printing order so that an accurate output result can be obtained.

Further, even for a document in which attributes such as an output paper size are mixed, the output of the same job is printed without being divided by the temporary stop and restart of the printer, and the output order in the job is guaranteed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a print control device for controlling the order of printing.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A print control apparatus according to the present invention generates a batch by changing the print order of page data so that page data having the same attribute is combined so as to minimize the start and stop of the printer. And output to the output device in order. Furthermore, it is guaranteed that each document is output continuously. Further, as an operator operation function for a job, a user interface function capable of performing various processes in units of a job is provided.

[0010] To achieve the above object, a print control apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an input unit for inputting a print job including page data representing a page to be printed;
A storage unit for storing page data and generating storage information indicating a storage location of the stored page data; and a print attribute for receiving a print job from the input unit and determining a print mode of the page data included in the received print job. Control means for determining the print mode of the printer based on the print mode information, and outputting the determined print mode information and the accumulated information of the page data included in the print job to an output means as an output instruction; and Output means for acquiring page data from the storage means based on the acquired page data and the print mode information received from the control means to the printer, wherein the control means continuously changes the print mode of the printer without changing the print mode. A batch composed of one or more print jobs that can be printed is generated, and the generated batch is output to an output unit. The print job is held as a batch queue arranged in order, and the print mode set for each batch in accordance with the order of the batch queue and the accumulated information of the page data included in the print job constituting the batch are output to the output unit as an output instruction. It is characterized by having a configuration.

Further, in the print control apparatus according to the present invention, the control means includes a print mode set batch which coincides with a print mode determined based on a print attribute of page data of a new print job received from the input means. Is retrieved from a batch queue, and the storage information of the new print job is added to a batch matching the print mode detected by the search.

Further, in the print control apparatus of the present invention, the control means includes a print mode set batch which matches a print mode determined based on a print attribute of page data of a new print job received from the input means. Is searched from a batch queue, and if a batch matching the print mode is not detected by the search, a new batch unique to the new print job is generated.

Further, in the print control apparatus of the present invention, the control means includes a print mode set batch which matches a print mode determined based on a print attribute of page data of a new print job received from the input means. Is executed only for a preset number of batches from a preset direction for the batch queue, and if the search does not find a batch with a matching print mode, the new print job specific It is characterized by generating a new batch.

Further, in the print control apparatus according to the present invention, the control means includes the step of: determining that the new print job received from the input means has a plurality of pages, and that the print mode determined based on the print attributes is the same as that of the print job. If the pages are not the same, the print mode is set to be mixed, and a new batch is generated using the storage information of the new print job as data.

Further, in the print control apparatus according to the present invention, the control means has an upper limit value of the number of output pages of the print job included in each of the batches constituting the batch queue. If it is determined that the total number of output pages of the added batch exceeds the upper limit value when adding the accumulation information of the job, the addition of the accumulation information of the new print job to the batch is stopped. I do.

Further, in the print control device of the present invention, the print mode includes at least a paper size used for printing, a paper tray for supplying paper used for printing, a color page and a monochrome page, a double-sided page and a single-sided page, It is characterized by including one of the type of recording medium used for printing the page and the discharge destination of the page.

Further, in the print control apparatus of the present invention, the storage information is a page ID indicating a storage position of the storage means.
It is characterized by being.

Further, the print control apparatus of the present invention has a user interface means, and the control means has a job queue for holding job data for storing information of each print job in a list format, In response to a print job reception, the apparatus has a configuration in which corresponding job data is created and added to a job queue, and job data can be displayed through a user interface and job data can be changed by inputting data through the user interface. It is characterized by having the above-mentioned configuration.

Further, in the print control apparatus according to the present invention, the page data includes page size data and a raster image.

Further, the print control apparatus of the present invention has a decompression means for the compressed image, the page data stored in the storage means is a raster image subjected to compression processing, and the compressed data extracted from the storage means is decompressed. A means for decompressing by means and outputting to an output means.

[0021]

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

[0022]

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a print control apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a print control apparatus according to the present invention includes an input unit 101, a control unit 1
02, a printing unit 103, and a storage unit 104.

When a print job including page data and a print instruction is input, the input unit 101 stores the page data in the storage unit 104, and receives a page ID column indicating the storage location of the page data in the storage unit 104.
Next, the input unit 101 controls the control unit 10 to transmit job data including a print instruction of the print job and a column of the stored page ID.
Notify 3.

The control means 102 has a batch queue for storing output batch information indicating an output instruction.
01 is added to this queue as an output batch representing an output instruction. In addition, using the attributes of the print job as a key, search the batch queue,
If there is a batch having the same attribute, output information including a column of accumulated page IDs is added to the batch. If there is no data with the same attribute, a new batch is added to the end of the output order list. Here, the print attributes include paper size, color / monochrome, double-sided / single-sided, and the like.

When the output unit 103 is ready for printing, the control unit 102 extracts data from the head of the batch queue, gives the data to the output unit 103 as an output instruction including a print attribute and a page ID column, and instructs printing.

The output unit 103 uses the received page ID sequence according to the instruction from the control unit 102 and
The page data is received from the printer 04 and printed with the specified print attribute. When printing of the designated page data is completed, the output unit 103 notifies the control unit 102 of the end of printing. The control unit 102 deletes the data for which printing has been completed from the batch queue, and records in the job queue that printing has been completed.

As the page data to be printed, a raster image corresponding to the number of pixels and the number of gradations of the printing means 103 is used. FIGS. 2 to 4 show examples of this raster image.
FIG. 2 is an example of monochrome page data, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are examples of color raster images.

A page is indicated by a large rectangular frame shown by a solid line in FIG. 2, and the horizontal direction is the main scanning direction, that is, the scanning line (Scan Line) direction, and the vertical direction is the sub-scanning direction. The page shown in FIG. 2 has W in the main scanning direction.
A pixel (pixel) has H pixels in the sub-scanning direction, and is composed of W × H pixels in total. As shown in the upper part of FIG. 2, each pixel in the page data has print data of 8 bits for each pixel.

FIG. 3 shows a color raster image. The difference from FIG. 2 is that each pixel has 8-bit data for black, yellow, magenta, cyan, and each color. When printing with a printer,
Each of these data is supplied to a control mechanism for each output color. FIG. 4 also shows a color raster image, but the data configuration in FIG. 4 is different from that in FIG. 3 and has independent page data for each color. In this configuration, data is supplied to the printer based on page data configured for each color.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a batch queue generated based on a print request in the print control apparatus of the present invention. The batch queue is formed by forming a print request for each document as a print execution queue.
These batch queues are held in a list structure as a data structure of each document control unit 102. In FIG. 5, batch queues 501 and 502 have been generated. An element of the batch queue is called a batch. The batch includes a batch ID uniquely assigned to identify the batch, a print mode of the batch, and a page string list 503, 504, 50.
Consists of five. The print mode includes various print modes such as color / black and white printing, paper size, and single / double-sided printing. As shown in FIG. 5, the page sequence has the number of copies to be printed, the order of printing, a page ID column, and the ID of the job that includes this page column.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a case where a new print job is added to the batch queue in the state of FIG.
Here, for simplicity, only the paper size is considered as the print mode (attribute). As shown in FIG. 5, A4 (batch ID (1)) and A3 (batch ID
Since the batch of (2)) is included, if the paper size of the newly added print job is A4, the page sequence of this job is the page sequence of the batch of A4 as shown in (1) of FIG. Added to the end of the list. If it is A3, it is added to the end of the page sequence list of the batch of A3 as shown in (2) of FIG. If B4 is neither A4 nor A3, for example, B4, a new batch of B4 is created as shown in (3) of FIG. 6 and added to the end of the list structure of the batch queue.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a process for adding a new print job to the batch queue as shown in FIG. 6 in the print control apparatus of the present invention. In step 2001, the attributes of the job added are read. Next, in steps 2002 and 2003, the first batch is read from the already generated batches, and the presence or absence of a generated batch is confirmed. If a batch already exists, the attribute of the job added in step 2004 is compared with the attribute of the read batch. If the attributes do not match in this comparison, the steps from step 2008 to step 2003 and step 2004 are sequentially read out and repeatedly executed. If a batch having the same attribute is detected in these steps, the process proceeds to step 2005, and a new job is added to the batch.

If no batch with an attribute that matches the attribute of the new job is found in all the generated batches, a new batch is generated in step 2006, and the newly added job is newly generated in step 2007. It is registered in the batch that was created.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a process in which the search of the batch queue is performed in reverse order. FIG. 21 and FIG.
The difference from the flowchart of FIG. 2 is that in FIG. 21, the batch search is executed from the head of the batch matrix, whereas in step 2102 of FIG. 22, the batch search is executed from the end of the batch matrix. . Therefore, in the flow of FIG. 21, when it is confirmed that the attribute of the retrieved batch does not match the attribute of the additional job in step 2004, the next batch is extracted as a comparison in step 2008. In step 2107, it is configured to extract the previous batch as a comparison.

FIG. 23 shows a case where the attributes of a newly added new print job and the attributes of a generated batch are compared only with the last batch in the generated batch sequence.
This is not an attribute comparison with the generation batch as shown in FIG. 21 or FIG. 22 but with all the generation batches until the attribute matches, but only one comparison, and the comparison was made. If the attributes of the batch do not match, a new batch generation process (step 2205) is executed for the job added as the next step.
The flow of FIG. 24 is that FIG. 23 performs comparison with the last batch (step 2202), while FIG. 24 performs comparison with the first batch (step 2302). The process of comparing all the generated batches as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22 is advantageous when it is expected that there is a high probability that a matching batch exists in the generated batch, but is low when the probability of matching is low. 23 or FIG. 24, the processing efficiency is improved by executing only the comparison with one generated batch. Note that the number of comparison batches may be set in advance such that the number of generated batches to be compared is only two or three.

FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of a print controller usable in the print control apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, the print controller 901 includes a CPU, an R
The present invention can be realized by a computer system including an OM, a RAM, a communication interface, a printer interface, or the like, that is, a personal computer or a workstation. Further, it may have a disk I / F (interface) and a disk device 902 connected thereto, that is, a magnetic disk device or an optical disk device.

The CPU is connected to a ROM, a RAM,
It is connected to a communication interface, a printer interface, a disk interface, etc., exchanges data with these, and executes the programs stored in the ROM or the RAM to control the above components. The CPU externally inputs data using the communication interface, and realizes an input unit. The storage means may use a RAM (semiconductor memory), or may be realized by connecting a disk interface and a disk device and using a disk (magnetic disk device or optical disk device).

When the RAM is used as the storage means, the printer interface performs a DMA (Direct Memory Access) from the RAM, acquires page data, and transmits the page data to the printer 903. As a result, a transmission unit is realized. Alternatively, the CPU reads the page data from the RAM, writes the page data to the printer interface,
The printer interface may transmit to the printer device 903.

When a disk is used as storage means, the disk interface copies page data to the RAM by DMA, and the printer interface
(DMA) to obtain page data and transmit it to the printer device. As a result, a transmission unit is realized. If a semiconductor memory is used as the storage means, high-speed access and high-speed print processing using electrophotography or the like can be performed. Use of a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, or the like has an advantage that a large amount of page data can be stored. The control means is realized as a program executed by the CPU.

FIGS. 10 to 17 each show an example of a use mode in which the print control apparatus of the present invention is used.

In FIG. 10, a print controller 1004 serving as a print control device is a host computer 100.
3. In other words, serial line, parallel line, S
They are directly connected using a CSI bus, GPIB bus, or the like. In the case of this configuration, the communication interface used as the input means is RS232C, Centronics parallel interface, SCSI interface, or G
An input / output interface such as a PIB interface is used.

In FIG. 11, a print controller 1104 as a print control device is connected to a network.
Page data is received from other computer systems such as personal computers and workstations on the network. In this case, the communication interface used as the input means is a network interface card such as Ethernet, ATM, FDDI, and token ring.

In FIG. 12, the print controller 120
Reference numeral 5 denotes a PD for processing a page description language such as PostScript to generate page data.
It is connected to the L processor 1204. Operating the PDL processor 1204 on another computer system,
Serial line, parallel line, SCSI bus, GP
The connection may be made directly using an IB bus or the like, or may be made via a network such as Ethernet, ATM, FDDI, or token ring. Alternatively, the PDL processor can be realized as software operated by the CPU of the print controller. PDL
The implementation of the processor is not described here because it can be realized by a known technique.

In FIG. 13, the print controller 130
2 is connected to a communication device 1301, ie, a modem, a facsimile modem or an ISDN communication device,
Image data is received from a communication line. In this case, the communication interface is realized by using a connectable serial interface or the like.

In FIG. 14, the print controller 140
Reference numeral 2 is connected to an image input device 1401 including an image scanner and a digital still camera. The communication interface at this time includes a serial interface, a parallel interface, a SCSI interface, and a GPIB according to the input / output interface of each device.
Interfaces or dedicated interfaces for these devices are used.

In FIG. 15, the print controller 150
Reference numeral 3 is connected to an image processing device 1502 connected to an image scanner or a digital still camera. The communication interface at this time may be directly connected using a serial interface, a parallel interface, a SCSI interface, or a GPIB interface, or may be connected via a network using a network interface card such as Ethernet, ATM, FDDI, or token ring. You may connect.

In FIG. 16, the print controller 160
2 is a portable storage medium (portable storage drive 1
601) are connected. Portable storage media include floppy disks, CDs,
There are a ROM, an optical disk, a DVD, a ZIP drive, and a removable magnetic disk. The communication interface at this time is realized by a disk interface, SCSI bus interface, GPIB bus interface, IDE interphase, floppy interface, or the like to which each device can be connected.

In FIG. 17, the print controller 170
Reference numeral 5 is connected to an image file device 1703 for storing a plurality of image files. Since the image file device is a kind of computer system, the communication interface may be directly connected using a serial interface, a parallel interface, a SCSI interface, a GPIB interface, an Ethernet,
Connection is made via a network using a network interface card such as ATM, FDDI, or token ring.

Although the hardware used as the communication interface is different in the configurations of FIGS. 10 to 17, it does not affect other parts of the print control apparatus.

FIG. 18 shows a color copying machine using a xerographic technique as an example of the printing means. The color copier includes a CCD sensor 180 for inputting an original on a platen.
1. IPS (Image Processes) for image processing
sing subsystem) 1802, a ROS unit 1803 that converts an image into a laser beam to expose the photosensitive drum, and a photosensitive drum 180 that forms an electrostatic latent image
4. A rotary developing unit 1805 that has a developing device for developing a latent image on the photosensitive drum with toner for four colors of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan, and can switch the developing device to be used by rotating, A transfer drum 1806 for winding paper as a recording medium and transferring toner to the paper, a fixing device 1807 for heating, pressing and melting the toner on the paper, and fixing the toner on the paper, and removing toner remaining on the photosensitive drum without being transferred It comprises a cleaner 1808 and the like.

When this copying machine is used as a printing means (printer) of the print control device of the present invention, the following operation is performed. First, the operation in the color mode will be described. The sheet is conveyed from the sheet tray and is transferred to the transfer drum 18.
06. The page data sent from the transmission means is divided into four times of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan, and is exposed, fixed, and transferred. First, black data is sent from the sending means. The data enters the printing unit from the IPS, is converted into light by a laser diode, and scans and exposes the photosensitive drum 1804 by the ROS. At the same time, the rotary developing unit 1805 performs development using a black developing machine. The developed toner is transferred to a sheet on a transfer drum 1806. As a result, an image including only the black component is formed on the sheet.

When the black exposure, fixing, and transfer are completed, the rotary developing unit 1805 is rotated to switch the developing machine to yellow, and the yellow data is transmitted from the transmission unit, and the exposure, fixing, and transfer are similarly performed. Thereafter, magenta and cyan exposure, fixing, and transfer are sequentially performed in the same manner.
When the transfer of the four colors is completed, a full-color unfixed image is formed on the sheet. Finally, the paper is transferred to the transfer drum 18
From 06, it is sent to a fixing device 1807, where it is fixed and discharged. Thus, printing of the color page is completed.

In the case of the black and white mode, only the black data is sent from the transmitting means, and only the black developing device is used. When the black exposure, fixing, and transfer are completed, a black and white unfixed image is formed on the sheet.
From 06, it is sent to a fixing device 1807, where it is fixed and discharged. Thus, printing of the black and white page is completed.

As described above, the mechanical operation differs between the color mode and the monochrome mode. Specifically, in the color mode, the rotary developing machine operates in black, yellow, magenta,
The four drums of cyan are mechanically switched and used, and the transfer drum rotates four times during the printing of one page, whereas in the black-and-white mode, the rotary developing machine is only black and the switching is not necessary, and the transfer drum is one page. Only one rotation during printing.

When a printer having the above-described configuration is used as an output device, that is, in a printer configured so that the mechanical operation differs depending on the mode, the mode cannot be switched instantaneously. Must be stopped, the mode switched, and then restarted. Therefore, it takes time to switch the mode.

Therefore, printing with different attributes cannot be executed successively. Therefore, in the print control apparatus of the present invention, as described above, the newly added input print job is compared with the attributes in the already generated batch queue, and there is a generated batch whose attribute matches. In this case, additional processing of the job is executed for the batch to reduce the number of times the printer is stopped when executing the print processing for the generated batch. The processing efficiency is improved.

As described above, in the present embodiment, jobs having the same attribute are printed collectively, so that the number of times of mode switching is minimized, and the time required for printing can be reduced. Furthermore, since the job is added to and assigned to the batch queue, the output of the document is not mixed, and the load of the sorting work after the output processing is not increased.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a description will be given of a process when a print job in which pages having different attributes are mixed is newly input in the print control apparatus of the present invention. The basic configuration of the present embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
Has the configuration shown in FIG. However, the control unit 102 has a job queue for storing information for each print job separately from the batch queue described in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 shows an example of a job queue. The job queue is also a data structure of the control means held in a list structure like the batch queue. A job queue element is called a job. As shown in FIG. 7, the job is a job ID uniquely assigned to identify the job, a print instruction, a user name of the print instruction, and a client of the print instruction. A row includes a machine name, a page ID column indicating a storage location in the storage unit, and a batch ID indicating a batch corresponding to this job.

When the control means 102 receives the job data from the input means 101, it first adds the received job data to the end of the job queue. Next, the job is added to the batch queue according to the attribute of the job.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a result when a print job having a new print attribute is newly added to the job queue and the batch queue in a state where the print jobs are received in the order of A4 and A3. . In FIG. 7, the upper part shows a job queue, and the lower part shows a batch queue. The job queues 701 and 702 are an A4 size print job and an A3 size print job, respectively. The job queue 703 includes newly added A4, A3, B
This is a job queue in which prints of four sizes are mixed. Batch queues corresponding to the job queues 701 and 702 are a batch queue 711 and a batch queue 712 shown in the lower part of FIG.

Here, for the sake of simplicity, the print mode (attribute)
It is assumed that only the paper size is specified, and a print job in which newly added print attributes are mixed is A
It is assumed that three types of printing attributes are provided in the order of 4, A3, and B4. This new additional job is added as a job queue 703 at the end of the job queue list structure. Next, similarly to the first embodiment, attribute comparison with the already generated batch queue is performed. This attribute comparison is executed by a flow similar to the flow of FIGS. 21 to 24 described above. However, the added job has a print attribute of A4
Since it has neither the A3 (the attribute of the batch queue 711) nor the A3 (the attribute of the batch queue 712) and has an attribute of mixed paper sizes, a batch 713 having a mixed attribute is newly generated as shown in the lower part of FIG. Added to the end of the list structure.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of a process for adding to the batch queue in this embodiment. In step 801, the attributes of the job added are read. Next, step 80
In step 2, it is determined whether the read attributes include different attributes or a single attribute set. If it is determined that the attribute is a single attribute, in steps 803 and 804, the first batch is read from the already generated batch, and the presence or absence of the generated batch is confirmed. If the batch already exists, at step 805 the unity of the attributes of the retrieved batch is considered. If the attributes of the generated batches read are mixed, the process proceeds to step 810 without adding a new job to the batch, and the next batch is taken out and the attributes are examined.

If it is determined in step 805 that the attribute of the generated batch read out is unique, the flow advances to step 806 to compare the attribute of the added job with the attribute of the read-out batch. Is performed. If the attributes do not match in this comparison, steps 810 to 80
Steps 4, 805, and 806 are sequentially read out and repeatedly executed. In these steps,
If a batch with matching attributes is found, step 8
In step 07, a new job is added to the batch.

If it is determined in step 802 that the attributes of additional jobs are mixed, a new batch is generated in step 808, and in step 809, the newly added job is registered in the newly generated batch. Even if the attribute of the additional job is single, if no batch having an attribute that matches the attribute of the new job is found in all the generated batches (when the determination in step 804 is absent), the same applies to step 808. , 8
At 09 a new batch is created.

The data registered in the print job generated in the second embodiment can be browsed by the user using the user interface means to the print control apparatus, and the user can view the data based on the browse information. Can give an instruction to the print control device.

First, a case where the user looks at a list of print jobs will be described. When a print job list display is requested by the user, the print control device searches the generated job queue and, for example, converts the job attributes from the top of the job queue into a format that can be read by the user, and displays the attached display. Is displayed on the display means.
Alternatively, the data is output to the user terminal via the connected data transmission means and displayed on the display means attached to the user terminal.

The attributes of the job to be displayed include the name of the document to be printed, the requester of the print, the name of the machine requesting the print, the arrival time, the status of the job, the number of pages, the print attributes, and the like.

Next, a case will be described in which the user cancels a print job waiting to be printed so that the corresponding job is not printed. The user designates the print job to be canceled using the user interface means.
This may be done by selecting from a list of print jobs created as described above or by using a job ID.

The control means searches the job queue for the designated print job. If a job exists, the status of the job is changed from waiting for printing to cancelling. Next, the batch queue is searched for a batch having the job ID of this job. If a batch is found, delete the page sequence corresponding to the job. As a result,
When there are no more pages in the batch, the batch itself is also deleted from the batch queue.

As described above, in the print control apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to grasp the progress of the print processing by the printer in the unit of job, which is easy for the operator to understand. Instructions or operations from the user.

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 19 shows a configuration example of a print control apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention, which has a means for expanding a compressed image and has a compressed image as page data.
Each of the input unit 101, the control unit 102, the printing unit 103, and the storage unit 104 basically has the same function as that described in the first embodiment, but the output unit 103 stores page data using a page ID. The image data is obtained from the image data 104 and expanded by the expansion unit 105 to generate image data and printed.

With this configuration, since the data amount of the image is reduced, a low-speed unit can be used as the input unit 101 or the storage unit 102. For example, a magnetic disk can be used instead of a semiconductor memory, which can reduce costs or increase storage capacity.

[Fourth Embodiment] Next, a fourth embodiment of the print control apparatus according to the present invention will be described in which a batch is added to a batch queue when the number of pages held by the batch has an upper limit. I do. The basic configuration is
1 is the same as the first embodiment shown in FIG.
When a generated batch whose attribute matches the newly added job is found, it is checked whether or not the number of pages of the batch exceeds a predetermined upper limit. If adding the output of the job to be added does not exceed the upper limit, a new job is added to the end of the batch. If adding the output of the job exceeds the upper limit, it cannot be added to the batch, and the search for a batch with the matching attribute is restarted from the subsequent batch. If a batch to be added is not found even after searching to the end of the batch queue, a new batch is generated and added to the end of the batch queue.

FIG. 20 shows a flowchart of the above processing. In step 1901, the attribute of the job added is read. Next, in step 1902, it is determined whether the read attributes include different attributes or a single attribute set. If it is determined that the attribute is a single attribute, in steps 1903 and 1904, the first batch is read from the already generated batch, and the presence or absence of a generated batch is confirmed. If the batch already exists, at step 1905 the unity of the attributes of the retrieved batch is considered. If the read batch attribute is mixed, adding a new job to that batch will
Instead, the process proceeds to step 1911 where the next batch is taken out and the attributes are examined.

If it is determined in step 1905 that the attribute of the generated batch read is single, the flow advances to step 1906 to compare the attribute of the added job with the attribute of the read batch. Is performed. If the attributes do not match in this comparison, the steps from step 1911 to steps 1904, 1905, and 1906 are sequentially read out and repeatedly executed. If a batch with the same attribute is detected in these steps, the process proceeds to step 1907, and the number of pages of the batch when a new job is added to the batch is compared with a predetermined upper limit. . If the value exceeds the upper limit, the process proceeds to step 1911 to consider the next search batch.

If it is determined in step 1907 that the number of pages in the batch when a new job is added to the batch does not exceed the predetermined upper limit, a new job is added to the batch in step 1908.

In step 1902, when it is determined that the attributes of the added new print job are mixed, and when no batch having an attribute that matches the attribute of the new job is found in all the generated batches (step 1902) If no determination is made in step 1904), a new batch is generated in step 1909, and step 1
At 910 and 1911, the newly added job is registered in the newly created batch.

In this embodiment, since the upper limit is set for the batch length, the processing time of one batch becomes longer, only pages of the same type are printed, and pages of another type are not printed at all. Can be prevented.

Note that the upper limit of the number of pages may be set differently for each attribute of the batch, and the upper limit of the number of pages may be set as information obtained from a batch existing in the batch queue, for example, batch queue. If the total number of batches set as is large, set the upper limit to a small value, and if the number of batches is small, adjust the occurrence of delayed output processing at the end of the batch queue by setting a higher limit, etc. Can be.

In the above embodiment, the correspondence between the page size and the print mode has been mainly described. However, the present invention is not limited to the page size but also various print modes set from other print attributes, for example, color / black and white. Various printing modes such as printing, double-sided pages and single-sided pages, types of recording media used for printing pages, and discharge destinations of pages can be handled in the same manner as described in the above embodiment. .

[0081]

As described above, according to the print control apparatus of the present invention, the printing order of the page data is changed so that the page data having the same attribute is put together.
The frequency of the cycle down due to the start and stop of the printing due to the change of the printing mode is reduced, and the continuous printing operation can be increased, so that the printing time is shortened. At that time, in the final output result, the order of the pages in the same job is not interchanged or mixed with the output of the page of another job.

Further, according to the print control apparatus of the present invention, information relating to a job queue in which print processing in a job unit is recorded is collectively generated as a processing unit. It is possible to provide an easy-to-understand printer operation function for each job.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a print control apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example (black and white) of page data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example (color) of page data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example (color) of page data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a batch queue.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a print job is added to the batch queue of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a print job with mixed attributes is added.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart (1) illustrating addition of a job to a batch queue in the print control apparatus of the present invention.
It is.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a detailed example of a print control apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example (1) of a usage mode of the print control apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example (2) of a use mode of the print control apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example (3) of a usage mode of the print control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example (4) of a usage mode of the print control apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example (5) of a use mode of the print control apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example (6) of a use mode of the print control apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example (7) of a use mode of the print control apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example (8) of a use mode of the print control apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 18 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a color copying machine using a xerography technique.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of an embodiment of a print control apparatus according to the present invention having a means for expanding a compressed image.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart (2) illustrating the addition of a job to a batch queue in the print control apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart (3) illustrating addition of a job to a batch queue in the print control apparatus of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the flowchart (3) explaining addition to a batch queue.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart (4) illustrating addition of a job to a batch queue in the print control device of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart (5) illustrating addition of a job to a batch queue in the print control apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart (6) illustrating the addition of a job to a batch queue in the print control apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Input means 102 Control means 103 Output means 104 Storage means 105 Decompression means 901 Print controller 902 Disk device 903 Printer

Claims (11)

[Claims] An input unit configured to input a print job including page data representing a page to be printed; a storage unit configured to store the page data and generate storage information indicating a storage location of the stored page data; Receiving a print job from the input unit, determining a print mode of the printer based on a print attribute that determines a print mode of page data included in the received print job,
A control unit for outputting the determined print mode information and the accumulation information of the page data included in the print job to an output unit as an output instruction; and transmitting the page data from the accumulation unit based on the accumulation information received from the control unit. And output means for outputting to the printer the acquired page data and the print mode information received from the control means, wherein the control means is capable of continuously printing one or more without changing the print mode of the printer. A batch composed of print jobs is generated, the generated batch is held as a batch queue arranged in the order of output to the output unit, a print mode set for each batch according to the order of the batch queue, and a print forming the batch A configuration in which the accumulated information of the page data included in the job is output to the output unit as an output instruction Printing control apparatus, characterized by. 2. The control unit searches the batch queue for a print mode set batch that matches a print mode determined based on a print attribute of page data of a new print job received from the input unit. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a configuration for adding the storage information of the new print job to a batch that matches the print mode detected by the search. 3. The batch queue, wherein the control unit searches the batch queue for a print mode set batch that matches a print mode determined based on a print attribute of page data of a new print job received from the input unit. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a new batch unique to the new print job is generated when a batch matching the print mode is not detected by the search. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit searches for a batch set with a print mode that matches a print mode determined based on a print attribute of page data of a new print job received from the input unit. Execute only for a preset number of batches from a preset direction for the queue, and generate a new batch unique to the new print job when the search does not find a batch that matches the print mode. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control is performed. 5. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the new print job received from the input unit has a plurality of pages, and a print mode determined based on a print attribute is not the same for all pages in the print job. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a print mode is set to a mixed mode, and a new batch is generated in which accumulation information of the new print job is used as data. 6. The control means has an upper limit value of the number of output pages of a print job included in each of the batches constituting the batch queue, and stores the storage information of the new print job in a batch having the same print mode. If the total number of output pages of the batch after the addition is determined to exceed the upper limit, the addition of the accumulation information of the new print job to the batch is stopped. 3. The print control device according to 2. 7. The print mode includes at least a paper size used for printing, a paper tray for supplying paper used for printing, a color page and a monochrome page, a double-sided page and a single-sided page, and a record used for printing a page. 7. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control apparatus includes one of a type of a medium and a discharge destination of a page. 8. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage information is a page ID indicating a storage position of the storage unit. 9. The print control device includes a user interface unit, the control unit includes a job queue that stores job data for storing information for each print job in a list format, Upon receipt of the print job,
A configuration in which corresponding job data is created and added to a job queue, and a configuration is provided in which display of job data via the user interface and change of job data by data input via the user interface are enabled. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the print control device is a print control device. 10. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the page data includes page size data and a raster image. 11. The print control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a compressed image decompressing unit, wherein the page data stored in the storing unit is a compressed raster image, and the compressed data extracted from the storing unit is the compressed data. 11. The print control device according to claim 10, wherein the print control device has a configuration in which the data is expanded by the expansion device and output to the output device.