JP2008204293A - Image forming apparatus, image forming system, and control instruction counting program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus, an image forming system and a control instruction counting program which can provide information for specifying print speed deterioration factor. <P>SOLUTION: This image forming apparatus is provided with: a control command counting means (command counting processing part 106) for counting the appearance frequency of at least one of a plurality of types of control instructions, omittable control instructions and non-omittable control instructions included in page description language composing print information which may be the factors of print speed deterioration; and a counting result storage means (memory 107) for storing the result of counting by the control instruction counting means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and a control command (command) counting program.

  A printer (printing apparatus) as a kind of image forming apparatus may not reach the printing speed indicated by the apparatus specifications depending on the environment of the user.

The printing speed is, for example, ppm (Page Per
The number of sheets that can be printed in one minute. As an example, the printing speed of a printer that can print 10 sheets per minute is expressed as 10 ppm.

  There are various factors that can cause the printing speed to slow down. One of the factors is that the printing timing between pages takes more time than usual, and the phenomenon that productivity shown in the product specifications does not appear. To do.

  When such a phenomenon occurs, it is desirable to obtain user data (user information) for verification, and to perform reproduction confirmation in order to establish the same printing environment and identify the cause of deterioration in printing speed. .

  Depending on user data, personal information such as a customer's name, address, and telephone number may be included.

  However, recently, the Personal Information Protection Law has been enacted, and it has become difficult to obtain user data due to the fact that the handling of personal information has become stricter than before.

  Also, it is often difficult to construct the same printing environment as the user. For example, there are many cases where it is unclear whether any printer description language (PDL) data is transmitted from the host computer to the printer.

  If a printer driver is used, PDL data can be saved on the host computer side and the PDL data can be analyzed on the host computer side, but application software that does not use the printer driver can be used. In this case, the PDL data cannot be stored on the host computer side, and analysis may not be performed.

  As a measure for solving this problem, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-216359, the processing time for each printer description language is summed to calculate the printing time.

However, there is still a problem that the printing speed deterioration factor cannot be specified because the number of appearances for each PDL command necessary for verifying the factor that the printing speed does not appear is unknown.
JP 2003-216359 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and a control command counting program capable of providing information for specifying a printing speed deterioration factor.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is a control command counting unit that counts the number of appearances of a control command that is included in a page description language that constitutes print information and can cause deterioration in printing speed. And counting result storage means for storing the counting result obtained by the control command counting means.

  The image forming apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention is characterized in that the control command is either a control command that can be omitted or a control command that cannot be omitted.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus further includes a transmission unit that transmits the counting result stored in the counting result storage unit to the information processing unit.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus further includes a printing unit that prints out the counting result stored in the counting result storing unit.

  The image forming apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention further includes a control command designating unit for designating a control command counted by the control command counting unit.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus further includes a counting range designating unit that designates a range in which the control command counting unit counts the number of appearances of the control command with respect to the print information.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system including one or more image forming apparatuses according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, connected to the one or two or more image forming apparatuses via a communication line. And an information processing apparatus.

  In an image forming system according to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the information processing unit is configured by the information processing device, and the transmission unit transmits a count result to the information processing device via the communication line. It is characterized by.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control instruction counting program for counting the number of appearances of a control instruction that is included in a page description language constituting print information and can cause a deterioration in printing speed, and the control A counting result storing process for storing a counting result in the instruction counting process is executed by an arithmetic means.

  The control command counting program according to the invention of claim 10 is characterized in that the control command is either an omissible control command or a non-omissible control command.

  The control instruction counting program according to the invention of claim 11 further includes a counting result transmission process for transmitting the counting result stored in the counting result storing process.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control command counting program further comprising a printing step of printing out the counting result stored in the counting result storing step.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control command counting program further comprising a control command specifying step of specifying a control command to be counted by the control command counting step.

  Further, the control command counting program according to the invention of claim 14 further comprises a counting range designating process for designating a range for counting the number of appearances of control commands by the control command counting process for the print information. .

  According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

  That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the print information control command (PDL command) is obtained using the user environment without obtaining the user information as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided. The number of appearances for each type can be acquired in a short time, and by verifying the count result, the printing speed deterioration factor can be specified and information on the printing speed improving means can be provided.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the printing speed improvement means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  Further, according to the invention described in claim 3, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is identified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  Further, according to the invention described in claim 6, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the print information control command (PDL command) is obtained using the user environment without obtaining the user information, as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided. The number of appearances for each type can be acquired in a short time, and by verifying the count result, the printing speed deterioration factor can be specified and information on the printing speed improving means can be provided.

  Further, according to the invention described in claim 8, as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the print information control command (PDL command) is obtained using the user environment without obtaining the user information, as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided. The number of appearances for each type can be acquired in a short time, and by verifying the count result, the printing speed deterioration factor can be specified and information on the printing speed improving means can be provided.

  Further, according to the invention described in claim 10, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the invention described in claim 11, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  Further, according to the invention described in claim 12, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the invention described in claim 13, compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided, the printing speed deterioration factor is specified and the information on the printing speed improving means is provided by verifying the counting result. There is an effect that can be.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment as an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Here, in the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same members, and duplicate descriptions are omitted. In addition, since description here is the best form by which this invention is implemented, this invention is not limited to the said form.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing apparatus as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a table (form) showing an example of printing information including personal information, and FIG. 3 is a first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the command counting process according to the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the command counting process according to the third embodiment. It is a flowchart to show.

  In FIG. 1, a printing apparatus PR exemplified as one type of image forming apparatus performs designation of a type of a command (control command) for performing a counting process and a range (page designation or the like) for performing a counting process with the print control unit 100. An operation panel (control command designating unit, counting range designating unit) 200 and a print processing unit (printing unit) 300 for printing data drawn on the memory are configured.

  Although not particularly limited, the printer PR is assumed to be a laser printer, a full color printer, an ink jet printer, or the like.

  The print control unit 100 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer and receives a data (print information) from a host computer (information processing means, information processing apparatus) PC connected via a network (communication line) L. 101, a PDL editing processing unit 102 that analyzes a PDL control command (control command) for each command and converts it into a drawing command, a drawing processing unit 103 that draws a drawing command as image data on an image memory, and printing of image data A print control processing unit 104 that executes information, a transmission processing unit (sending unit) 105 that notifies the host computer PC of information, and a command counting processing unit that counts the number of appearances of commands (control commands), the number of commands that can be omitted, and the like. (Control command counting means) 106 and memory (counting result storage means) 107 for storing counting results It is made. As the memory, for example, a volatile memory such as a RAM or a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory can be used.

  Although not particularly limited, printer description languages (PDL: Page Description Language) include ESC / P (trademark of Epson), LIPS (trademark of Canon Inc.), PostScript (trademark of Adobe Systems), PCL (trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company). ), PRESCRIBE (trademark of Kyocera Corporation) and the like.

  Here, as the printing information transmitted from the host computer PC and received by the printing apparatus PR to perform printing processing, for example, a form as shown in FIG. Such a form is shown as a hidden character in FIG. 2, but includes personal information such as the address, name, gender, date of birth, etc. of the customer.

  By the way, as mentioned earlier, the enactment of the Personal Information Protection Law makes handling of personal information stricter than before, and data that contains personal information is used to verify the cause of a decrease in printing speed of printing devices. It has become difficult to obtain.

  Therefore, the printing apparatus PR according to the present embodiment does not require print information including personal information, and prints based on PDL command group data (PDL data) that does not include personal information that is relatively easy to provide. It is possible to verify the cause of the slowdown.

  As the PDL command, for example, when PRESCRIBE is used as the printer description language, a cassette selection command (PSRC), a duplex / single-sided print setting command (DUPX), a resolution setting command (RESL), and a toner consumption reduction setting command (EPL) And a smoothing setting command (SIR).

  Next, with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 3, a processing procedure of command counting processing according to the first embodiment will be described.

  When this process is started, it is first determined in step S100 whether or not the mode is PDL command counting mode 1. If the determination result is "No", the process proceeds to step S109 to perform normal print processing. When the determination result is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S101.

  In step S101, the command counting processing unit 106 detects a command A exemplified for print information (for example, a toner consumption reduction setting command (EPL)), and proceeds to step S102.

  In step S102, the process of command A, that is, the number of occurrences of command A is counted and added, and then the process proceeds to step S103. The exemplified command B (for example, resolution setting command (RESL)) is detected and the process proceeds to step S104. Transition.

  In step S104, the process of command B, that is, the number of occurrences of command B is counted and added, and then the process proceeds to step S105.

  In addition, the process of step S101-104 can increase a process procedure according to the number of the commands which perform the count process of appearance frequency.

  In step S105, the page break code is detected by the PDL editing processing unit 102, and the process proceeds to step S106. The print result of the command for one page for the print information is written in the memory (counting result storage unit) 107, and then the process proceeds to step S107. Transition.

  In step S107, it is determined whether or not the number of pages set on the operation panel 200 has been reached. If the determination result is “No”, the process proceeds to step S110, the counter is cleared, and the process returns to step S101. The same process is repeated until the setting page is reached.

  If the determination result in step S107 is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S108, where the type of command and the count value of each page are transmitted to the host computer PC side, or the count result is printed and the process is terminated. .

  As a result, a person who verifies the printing apparatus PR (for example, a maintenance staff) displays the command type and the counting result on the display display of the host computer PC or the printed command type and the counting result document. By scrutinizing it, it is possible to identify the factors that decrease the printing speed of the printing apparatus PR.

  That is, since the analysis processing time differs for each PDL command type (there may be about 200 to 300 types), by comparing the number of appearances, which PDL commands appear more frequently, and the analysis processing takes time. It is possible to specify the printing speed deterioration factor such as

  Then, by transmitting the factor to the user of the printing apparatus PR, it is possible to take measures such as reducing the frequency of use of commands that require time for analysis processing, which can contribute to an increase in printing speed.

  For example, when a lot of commands to be drawn with broken lines are counted in a ruled line of a form, etc., depending on the printing device, the drawing of solid lines may be faster than the drawing of broken lines in the drawing process. It is possible to advise the user of the printing apparatus that the printing speed is faster when the command is changed to a solid line drawing command.

  When it is found from the counting result that the text mode and graphic mode specified by the PDL command are frequently switched, the internal work memory is initialized by switching the mode in the PDL editing processing unit 102. Therefore, it is possible to advise the user of the printing apparatus that the printing speed becomes faster if the mode switching frequency is reduced.

  In addition, when verifying the cause of a decrease in printing speed for a printing device, it is possible to perform a primary analysis by performing the above-mentioned command counting process before obtaining user data or building the same environment. There is an advantage that the time required for the process can be shortened.

  Next, a processing procedure of command counting processing according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the command counting process according to the second embodiment, the PDL editing processing unit 102 counts the number of appearances of PDL commands that can be omitted in the page, and optimizes the generation of PDL commands to customers and maintenance personnel based on the counting result. It provides information or measures to improve printing speed.

  In this process, it is determined whether or not the PDL command counting mode 2 is set in step S200. If the determination result is “No”, the process proceeds to step S209 to perform a normal printing process and the process is terminated. If the result is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S201.

  In other words, this corresponds to the case where the count function mode (mode 2) of the optional PDL command is selected and the number of count pages is set via the operation panel 200 of the printing apparatus PR.

  In step S201, the command counting processing unit 106 detects a command C exemplified for print information (for example, a smoothing setting command (SIR)), and the process proceeds to step S202.

  In step S202, it is determined whether or not the parameter setting of the command is the same as the current setting. If the determination result is “No”, the process proceeds to step S204, and if the determination result is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S203. Then, the command count processing unit 106 counts and adds the number of times the command C can be omitted.

  That is, the PDL data of the data (printing information) whose printing speed does not appear from the host computer PC reaches the PDL editing processing unit 102 via the reception processing unit 101, and the number of PDL commands that can be omitted by the PDL editing processing unit 102 Processing is started by the command counting processing unit 106.

  Here, the omissible PDL command corresponds to a case where a PDL command in which the same parameter as the previous format setting is set in the same page is received. That is, such a PDL command is unnecessary (can be omitted), and a loss occurs in the PDL analysis time, which may cause a deterioration in printing speed.

  Therefore, in step S202, if the command parameter setting added to the command by the PDL editing processing unit 102 is the same as the current setting (when the determination result is “Yes”), this PDL command can be omitted. In step S203, an omissible command counter for each command is added.

  For example, if the parameter of command C is “10”, a PDL command such as “[(command C) 10] + character code + [(command C) 10] + character code” is transmitted from the host computer PC. In this case, the second command C can be omitted, and the command C omissible counter is incremented by “+1”. How many unnecessary (can be omitted) PDL commands exist in one page is continued until a page break command is received (step S204), and the appearance of an optional PDL command that appears on the page. The number counter is written in the memory (step S205).

  Two or more commands that can be omitted can be set on the operation panel 200. In this case, the same processing as in steps S201 to S203 is performed for each command.

  As a result of the determination in step S206, the above process is continued until the preset number of pages is reached.

  Next, in step S207, the counting result is transmitted to the host computer PC as in the first embodiment or printed out by the print processing unit 300.

  If the determination result is “No” in step S206, the process proceeds to step S208, the counter is cleared, the process returns to step S201, and the same process is continued until the set number of pages is reached.

  As described above, in the command counting process according to the second embodiment, it is possible to count omissible PDL commands for each page, and verify the printing apparatus PR for information on the omissible number of PDL commands and PDL command types. By providing it to a user (for example, maintenance personnel), it is possible to provide advice on improving the printing speed to the user of the printing apparatus PR. Specifically, when creating print information such as a document, it is possible to improve the printing speed by taking measures such as not specifying the same parameter for a specific command continuously.

  In addition, when verifying the cause of a decrease in printing speed for a printing device, it is possible to perform a primary analysis by performing the above-mentioned command counting process before obtaining user data or building the same environment. There is an advantage that the time required for the process can be shortened.

  Next, a processing procedure of command counting processing according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the command counting process according to the third embodiment, the PDL editing processing unit 102 counts the number of appearances of PDL commands that cannot be omitted in the page, and uses the counting result to optimize the generation of PDL commands for customers and maintenance personnel. It provides a method for improving the printing information or printing speed.

  In this process, it is determined whether or not the PDL command counting mode 3 is set in step S300. If the determination result is “No”, the process proceeds to step S310 to perform a normal printing process, and the process is terminated. When the result is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S301.

  That is, this corresponds to the case where the count function mode (mode 3) of the PDL command that cannot be omitted is selected through the operation panel 200 of the printing apparatus PR and the count page number is set.

  In step S301, the command count processing unit 106 detects a command D exemplified for print information (for example, a command for setting a character size), and the process proceeds to step S302.

  In step S302, it is determined whether or not the parameter setting of the command is the same as the current setting. If the determination result is “No”, the process proceeds to step S305. If the determination result is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S302. Then, the command count processing unit 106 counts and adds the number of times the command D cannot be omitted.

  That is, PDL data of data (printing information) that does not produce a printing speed from the host computer PC reaches the PDL editing processing unit 102 via the reception processing unit 101, and the PDL command that cannot be omitted by the PDL editing processing unit 102. The counting process is started by the command counting processing unit 106.

  Here, the non-omissible PDL command includes all the PDL commands appearing on the page, the omissible PDL commands set in the second embodiment described above, and the meaningless format. This is the result of subtracting the set PDL command.

  A PDL command in which a meaningless format is set is a command when there is no actual data such as characters to be printed using the format setting even if the parameter setting is different. For example, when there are two parameters “10” and “20” of the character size designation command (command D), “[(command D) 10] + [(command D) 20] + character code” When such a PDL command is transmitted from the host computer PC, the setting of the latest command (in this example, [(command D) 20]) is effective for the format setting command such as character size designation, and [(( There is no character to be printed set by the command D) 10], and the PDL command is set with a meaningless format.

  If there are a large number of such PDL commands that cannot be omitted, there is a loss in the PDL analysis time, which can be a cause of deterioration in printing speed.

  In step S302, when the parameter setting of the command added to the command in the PDL editing processing unit 102 is the same as the current setting (when the determination result is “Yes”), the process proceeds to step S305, and the determination result If “No”, the process proceeds to step S303.

  In step S303, it is determined whether or not there is a character that uses the format of the command D. If the determination result is “No”, the process proceeds to step S305. If the determination result is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S304. Then, the PDL command is recognized as a non-omissible PDL command, and an omissible command counter for each command is added.

  It is possible to set two or more commands that cannot be omitted from the operation panel 200. In this case, the same processing as steps S301 to S304 is performed for each command.

  Thus, how many PDL commands that cannot be omitted exist in one page is continued until a page break command is received (step S305). Writing to the memory (step S306).

  As a result of the determination in step S307, the above processing is continued until the preset number of pages is reached.

  If the determination result is “No” in step S307, the process proceeds to step S309, the counter is cleared, the process returns to step S301, and the same processing is continued until the set number of pages is reached.

  In step S308, the counting result is transmitted to the host computer PC as in the first and second embodiments, or printed out by the print processing unit 300.

  As described above, in the command counting process according to the third embodiment, it is possible to count the non-omissible PDL commands for each page, and verify the information of the non-omissible number of PDL commands and the PDL command type in the printing apparatus PR. By providing it to the person who performs the operation (for example, maintenance personnel), it is possible to provide the user of the printing apparatus PR with advice for improving the printing speed. Specifically, when creating print information such as a document, the printing speed can be improved by taking measures such as avoiding unnecessary use of a specific command that cannot be omitted.

  In addition, when verifying the cause of a decrease in printing speed for a printing device, it is possible to perform a primary analysis by performing the above-mentioned command counting process before obtaining user data or building the same environment. There is an advantage that the time required for the process can be shortened.

  Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative in all respects and are not limited to the disclosed technology. Should not be considered. That is, the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed restrictively based on the description in the above embodiment, but should be construed according to the description of the scope of claims. All modifications that fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalent technology are included.

  When a program (control command counting program or the like) is used in the image forming apparatus (printing apparatus) according to the present invention, it is provided via a network or provided by being stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. It is possible.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to a laser printer, a full color printer, an ink jet printer, a fax machine, and the like.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a table | surface (form) which shows the example of the printing information containing personal information. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the command counting process which concerns on a 1st Example. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the command counting process which concerns on a 2nd Example. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the command counting process which concerns on a 3rd Example.

Explanation of symbols

PR printing device (image forming device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Print control part 101 Reception process part 102 Edit process part 103 Drawing process part 104 Print control process part 105 Transmission process part (transmission means)
106 Command counting processing unit (control command counting means)
107 memory (counting result storage means)
200 Operation panel (control command specifying means, counting range specifying means)
300 Print processing unit (printing means)
PC host computer (information processing means, information processing device)

Claims (14)

Control command counting means for counting the number of appearances of control commands that are included in the page description language constituting the print information and can cause the printing speed degradation;
Counting result storage means for storing a counting result by the control command counting means;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control command is either a control command that can be omitted or a control command that cannot be omitted.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the count result stored in the count result storage unit to the information processing unit.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a printing unit that prints out the counting result stored in the counting result storage unit.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control command specifying unit that specifies a control command to be counted by the control command counting unit.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a counting range specifying unit that specifies a range in which the control command counting unit counts the number of appearances of the control command with respect to the print information. apparatus. One or more image forming apparatuses according to any one of claims 1 to 6, and
One or more information processing devices connected via a communication line;
An image forming system comprising: The information processing means includes the information processing apparatus,
The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein the transmission unit transmits a count result to the information processing apparatus via the communication line. A control command counting process for counting the number of appearances of a control command included in the page description language constituting the print information, which can be a factor of print speed degradation;
A counting result storing process for storing a counting result by the control command counting process;
Is executed by the arithmetic means.   10. The control instruction counting program according to claim 9, wherein the control instruction is either an omissible control instruction or a non-omissible control instruction.   11. The control command counting program according to claim 9, further comprising a counting result transmission process for transmitting the counting result stored in the counting result storing process.   12. The control instruction counting program according to claim 9, further comprising a printing process for printing out the counting result stored in the counting result storing process.   The control instruction counting program according to any one of claims 9 to 12, further comprising a control instruction specifying step of specifying a control instruction to be counted by the control instruction counting step.   The control command according to any one of claims 9 to 13, further comprising: a count range specifying step for specifying a range in which the number of appearances of the control command is counted in the control command counting step with respect to the print information. Counting program.

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