JP2008234106A - Print control apparatus, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print control device capable of obtaining a result in the same page order as a document while printing the document with a printing device having different performance and function.
The printing control apparatus includes a classification unit that classifies input document data into one page group and another page group, a storage unit that stores the document data together with page identification information, and a printing device. Based on the information, search means for searching for the first printing device that prints one page group and the second printing device that prints another page group, and the printed matter of the one page group, Display means for displaying that it is arranged at a predetermined paper feed position and receiving a print instruction for another page group, and a print command for arranging the other page group in the page order of the document data based on the page identification information And a transmission means for transmitting to the second printing apparatus together with other page groups. This printing control apparatus functions as each of the above means by executing each software (23 to 28).
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention realizes a print control apparatus that enables printing data corresponding to each page of a document to be distributed to at least two printing apparatuses and printed from each printing apparatus while obtaining a printed matter arranged in page order. The present invention relates to a computer readable program and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  In a network system in which a plurality of printers, client computers, and a print server are connected to a network, one of the plurality of printers is selected, and document data created on the client computer is printed from the selected printer. Has been done. When printing a color page of a document, a color printer on the network is selected, print data is transmitted, and printing is performed from the color printer.

  The document data includes a page including a color image, a monochrome image, a page containing only black characters, and the like. When printing document data in which color and monochrome are mixed, a color printer can be selected and all printing can be performed in color. However, color printing is generally faster than monochrome printing. Is slow and expensive.

Therefore, it comprises an output device that outputs a monochrome image, an output device that outputs a color image, and a control device that controls image output to the output device, and determines a monochrome page and a color page of a print job, and outputs each of them. There has been proposed a system that appropriately sorts devices (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this way, the monochrome image and the color image are sorted, the monochrome image is output from the output device that outputs the monochrome image, and the color image is output from the output device that outputs the color image, thereby shortening the time until printing is completed. Can reduce costs.
Japanese Patent No. 3454787

  In the above system, regardless of the page order of the document, the color page and the monochrome page are discharged to different discharge destinations. As a result, the user must then perform the work of inserting the color page into an appropriate position of the monochrome page. Further, when finishing processing such as staples is required, printing is performed only from one output device, and finishing processing such as stapling is performed. Therefore, it is not possible to satisfy a request for sorting and printing color pages and monochrome pages.

  In addition, the document is printed with a plurality of printers with different performance and functions, and the printed matter output for each printer is finally obtained in the same page order as the original document, with the finishing process desired by the user. However, in order to actually do this, as described above, in addition to inserting a color page at an appropriate position on a monochrome page, various print settings must be made each time. And there was a problem that it was easy to make mistakes.

  Therefore, it is possible to obtain a result of finishing processing desired by the user in the same page order as a document while sorting and printing a document composed of a plurality of pages with a plurality of printers having different performance and functions. It has been desired to provide an apparatus and a computer-readable program for realizing the apparatus and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  The present invention has been made in view of at least one of the problems described above. When color and monochrome are allocated, the page position of a color page is stored, and the color page is first printed by a color printer. The user is prompted to place the group on a predetermined paper feed tray or inserter of a monochrome printer that prints monochrome pages, and when printing monochrome pages with the monochrome printer, based on the stored page position information of the color pages It has a function of transmitting a command for automatically inserting a color page from a paper feed tray or an inserter together with print data for a monochrome page. By providing a device with this function, documents can be printed on multiple printers with different performance and functions, and the result can be obtained for each job. Can be suppressed.

  That is, according to the present invention, classification means for classifying input document data into one page group and other page group constituting the document data, one page group classified by the classification means, and the like. A storage unit that stores the page group together with page identification information in which the relationship between each page group and document data is recorded, a first printing apparatus that prints one page group based on the information of the printing apparatus, and Search means for searching for a second printing device that prints another page group and a printed material of one page group printed by the first printing device are arranged at a predetermined paper feed position of the second printing device. Display means for displaying a message and receiving a print instruction for another page group, and when a print instruction for the other page group is given, the pages of the other page group are arranged in the order of the page of the document data based on the page identification information. Place each Generates a print command for its commands with other page group and transmitting means for transmitting to the second printing device can be provided a print control apparatus for printing control based on the information of the printing apparatus.

  The classification means classifies the document data into a color page group and a monochrome page group, and the search means uses a printing apparatus capable of printing the color page group as the first printing apparatus as the second printing apparatus. A printing apparatus capable of printing monochrome pages is searched.

  Further, the search unit specifies a predetermined paper feed position of the second printing apparatus based on a search result of the second printing apparatus.

  The page identification information includes at least information on the order in the document data of pages of one page group and pages of another page group.

  The information on the printing apparatus includes information on the presence or absence of paper in the paper feed tray. In this case, the display means displays that the printed matter of one page group is placed in the paper feed tray on which no paper is placed. Can do.

  The information on the printing apparatus can further include information on whether sort printing or stapling is possible.

  The display means displays the information of each page of the color page group so as to select whether color or monochrome printing is performed. In this case, the classification means corresponds to the selection content of the display means. Classify.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a program that causes a computer to function as each of the above-described means, and also to provide a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  According to the present invention, a user's work can be performed by causing a computer or apparatus to execute processing that is troublesome for the user, such as sorting color pages and monochrome pages, and inserting color pages into appropriate monochrome pages. Can be reduced. In addition, the operation is simplified and errors can be minimized.

  By setting the sort-printed color pages in one paper feed tray and feeding them in that order, you can avoid using multiple paper feed trays, even if the number of color pages exceeds the number of paper feed trays. Can satisfy printing requirements. As a result, the work burden on the user can be reduced.

  Of the pages identified as color pages, the specified pages can be printed in monochrome, so that pages that are color pages on the document but do not need to be printed in color for the user can be printed in monochrome. it can. As a result, cost can be reduced.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of printers that satisfy the print request, by allowing the user to select one of them, a sorting method desired by the user can be provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the management of data from client computers 11 to 13, a color printer 14 capable of color printing, a monochrome printer 15 capable of monochrome printing, and client computers 11 to 13 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a network configuration diagram in which a print server 16 that transmits data to a printer 14 and a monochrome printer 15 is connected via a network 10. FIG.

  The network 10 is a local area network (LAN) such as an intranet or the Internet, and the client computers 11 to 13 are personal computers or the like. The color printer 14 includes a plurality of colors of ink or toner and is capable of color printing. The monochrome printer 15 includes only black ink or toner and is capable of monochrome printing only. Thus, in this network configuration, two printers having different functions and performance are connected to the network 10. In FIG. 1, a color printer 14 and a monochrome printer 15 are shown. For example, the monochrome printer 15 includes a finisher having many functions at high speed, and the color printer 14 is used as an auxiliary. Can be small and slow. In order to make the description easy to understand, the following description will be made using the client computer 11.

  First, the software configuration of the client computer 11 will be described with reference to FIG. The client computer 11 includes, as software, an application 20, an operating system (OS) 21, a printer driver 22, a workflow management unit 23, a color / monochrome determination unit 24, a print data management unit 25, and a device information management unit. 26, a display unit 27, a command insertion unit 28, and a network interface 29. These software are stored in a memory such as a ROM provided in the client computer 11, and each process can be executed by the CPU reading out from the memory and executing it. Here, in order to facilitate the explanation, it is assumed that the software executes each process.

  The application 20 is business application software such as document creation software or spreadsheet software, and desired document data is created by the user. Then, the document data and the contents of the print instruction are input to the printer driver 22 based on the print instruction of the document data by the user. Upon receiving the document data and the contents of the print instruction, the printer driver 22 requests the workflow management unit 23 to perform print control based on the contents of the print instruction. In the present embodiment, data created by the application 20 is collectively referred to as document data.

  The workflow management unit 23 distributes and prints to each printer, and performs workflow management so that the printed products are arranged in the order of pages and are output as a single result. The color / monochrome determination unit 24 determines whether each page of the document is a color page or a monochrome page, and classifies each page into two page groups, a color page group and a monochrome page group. The print data management unit 25 stores the classified color page and monochrome page separately. When storing, page identification information for identifying each page is associated and stored as classification information. The page identification information can include a page number. The print data management unit 25 transmits print data to the printer, and causes the printer to execute printing.

  The device information management unit 26 holds device information of each printer connected to the network 10. The display unit 27 generates a screen for displaying information on which a printed matter printed by each printer is output as a resultant product arranged in the page order of document data on a display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display. To do. This display unit may be mounted on the printer driver 22. The command insertion unit 28 generates a command for designating a position on each page to be printed by another printer for each page printed by one printer, and inserts it into the print data. The network interface 29 mediates transmission of print data from the print data management unit 25 to the network 10.

  Next, after printing with the color printer according to the present embodiment, the printed matter of the color page is set in a predetermined paper feed tray or the like of the monochrome printer, the color page is inserted into a predetermined position, and output together with the monochrome page. Processing will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. First, the user creates predetermined document data using the application 20. This document data includes document information for classification into a color page group from which color pages in the document data are extracted and a monochrome page group from which monochrome pages are extracted at the time of printing. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the document information may include page identification information for identifying the page number of a monochrome page and the page number of a color page, information on the total number of pages of document data, and the like. When printing the created document data, the application 20 causes the printer driver 22 to display a screen so that the user can set various items shown in FIG. 5 such as sort printing, stapling, the number of copies, and the like. The value is transmitted as a print request to the printer driver 22 together with the document data related to the print instruction. Here, the post-processing items such as staples are considered when the printed matter that has been sorted and printed is finally made into one printed matter, which will be described later. Note that the document information is described as being included in the document data itself, but may be handled as a file separate from the document data.

  In step 300, the printer driver 22 sends the document data and the print request input from the application 20 to the workflow management unit 23, thereby requesting the workflow management unit 23 to execute sort printing. At this time, the data format of the document data input from the printer driver 22 is a page description language that can be understood by the color printer 14 and the monochrome printer 15 generated by the printer driver 22 even in the format of the application data input from the application 20. Although it may be described print data or metadata in an intermediate format, it will be generically referred to as print data hereinafter for the sake of explanation.

  In step 301, the workflow management unit 23 checks whether there is an instruction for sort printing in the print request input together with the print data, and determines whether or not the print request is executed. If the print request includes an instruction to perform sorting printing, the color / monochrome determination unit 24 is requested to classify into a color page group and a monochrome page group. In response to this request, the color / monochrome determination unit 24 determines whether each page of the print data is a color page or a monochrome page based on the document information shown in FIG. 4, and performs this for all pages. Then, the color page group and the monochrome page group are classified. The classification result is managed in a classification table as shown in FIG. 6, for example. Note that the content included in the print request is also used to obtain the final printed matter, and is therefore managed together with the classification table.

  In the classification table of FIG. 6, page numbers for identifying the page order in the original document data are associated with information indicating whether each page belongs to a color page group or a monochrome page group. As long as such an association is made, a tag representing the contents of a page may be described, for example, instead of the table format, and managed for each color page and monochrome page. In order to store the color page group and the monochrome page group classified in this way, in step 302 and step 303, the color / monochrome determination unit 24 requests the print data management unit 25 to store each page group. Upon receiving this request, the print data management unit 25 stores each page group. When the print data is stored, the print data management unit 25 notifies the color / monochrome determination unit 24 that the storage is completed. In step 304, the color / monochrome determination unit 24 notifies the workflow management unit 23 in the classification table. Based on this, the classification information indicating which page belongs to each page group is notified.

  In step 305, the workflow management unit 23 that has received the notification of the classification information requests the apparatus information management unit 26 to search for a printer that executes printing of the color page group. This request is made in a form including the above-described classification information. The device information management unit 26 searches the printer information held by itself for a printer that matches the requested content, and returns the found printer information to the workflow management unit 23 in step 306. Although the apparatus information management unit 26 has been described as an example of managing printer information in advance, a suitable printer may be searched from the network in response to a request from the workflow management unit 23.

  FIG. 7A is an example of printer information that is information on a printer found by a search by the apparatus information management unit 26, and shows that information on the color printer 14 is found as a printer that matches the requested content. The information of the color printer 14 describes the printer name, IP address, presence / absence of a color printing function, presence / absence of a sort printing function, presence / absence of a stapling function, and the status of a paper feed tray. From this, the color printer 14 has the name of the printer 1, the IP address “192.168.x.x”, the color printing function, the sort printing and the staple printing functions, and the paper feeding tray. It can be seen that the printer has a tray 1 and A4 size paper is set.

  In step 307, the workflow management unit 23 sends a print instruction specifying the IP address “192.168.x.x” to the print data management unit 25 based on the acquired printer information of FIG. In step 308, the print data management unit 25 outputs the stored color page group to the color printer 14 specified by this IP address. In step 309, the print data management unit 25 notifies the workflow management unit 23 that printing of each color page transmitted to the color printer 14 has been completed. The notification to the workflow management unit 23 can be performed by the print data management unit 25 monitoring the color printer 14 to detect the end of printing, detection by the print end notification from the color printer 14, and the like. It is preferable to include which page and which page has been printed.

  As a result of printing the color page group thus executed, a printed matter shown in FIG. 8 is obtained. In FIG. 8, since the sort request is not specified in the print request in FIG. 5, two pages 3 which are color pages are continuously output, and then two pages 5 are continuously output. Represents that.

  When the workflow management unit 23 is notified that the printing of the color page group has been completed, in step 310, the workflow management unit 23 searches the apparatus information management unit 26 to search for the printer that is the transmission destination of the print data of the monochrome page group. Make a request. The device information management unit 26 performs the same process as when the color printer 14 is searched, and returns the printer information of the compatible printer to the workflow management unit 23 in step 311. An example of the printer information found at this time is shown in FIG. 7b.

  FIG. 7B is an example of printer information of the monochrome printer 15 found by the search by the apparatus information management unit 26, and items similar to the printer information of the color printer 14 described above are described. From this content, it can be seen that the monochrome printer 15 has the name of the printer 2 and the IP address “192.168.x.y”, has no color printing function, and has sort printing and staple printing functions. As the paper feed tray, there are tray 1, tray 2, and tray 3. It can be seen that trays 1 and 2 are loaded with A4 size paper, and tray 3 is loaded with A3 size paper. Further, the paper feed tray further includes an inserter and a manual feed tray, and it is understood that no paper is currently set.

  The workflow management unit 23 that has received the information of the monochrome printer 15 can recognize that there is a paper feed tray on which no paper is set. At this time, the workflow management unit 23 creates a paper feed tray specification table in which which pages are set in which paper feed tray, and the created table is held in the workflow management unit 23. In this embodiment, the printed matter printed as the color page group corresponds to the third and fifth pages in the original document data, and the paper feed trays on which no paper is set are the inserter and the manual feed tray. The paper feed tray designation table created is as shown in FIG. 9, for example. In FIG. 9, the association of setting the printed matter of the third page to the inserter and setting the printed matter of the fifth page to the manual feed tray is created as a table, and the workflow management unit 23 based on the association of this table in step 312. A request to display the screen can be made to the display unit 27.

  In this way, if there are a plurality of paper feed trays in which no paper is set and the number of printed products in the color printer 14 set in the paper feed tray is the same as the number of the paper feed trays, which page is selected When the user is requested to display a screen prompting the user to set the paper feed tray, the user can easily recognize which page is set where. In addition, when the number of printed materials in the color printer 14 set in the paper feed tray is larger than the number of the paper feed trays, it may be displayed so that the user can select it. Further, if there is no paper feed tray on which no paper is set, a paper feed tray on which paper of a size different from the paper size for monochrome printing is selected is selected, and the display unit 27 displays the paper feed tray. Request to display a screen using information.

  Upon receiving the request in step 312, the display unit 27 displays a screen as shown in FIG. In this screen example, the message “Please set page 3 printed from printer 1 to the inserter of printer 2 and page 5 to the manual feed tray of printer 2” is displayed along with “Print from printer 2”. A button labeled “Start” is also displayed. As a result, the user can send a print instruction to the printer 2 as the monochrome printer 15 by pressing this button after setting each page in each tray. When this button is pressed by the user, the display unit 27 notifies the workflow management unit 23 in step 313 that a print instruction has been issued by pressing the button.

  The workflow management unit 23 that has detected that a print instruction has been issued in step 313 performs processing for creating a final printed matter from the monochrome printer 15. First, the page identification information of the color page printed by the color printer 14 is removed from the classification table based on the content notified in step 309 described above. As a result, it is possible to know the number of print data to be printed as monochrome pages and on which page of the original document data to be arranged, so the printing order of the monochrome pages is determined according to the arrangement page in the original document. Can do.

  FIG. 11 shows the relationship between the page number in the original document data and the output page in the print data transmitted to the monochrome printer 15 of the monochrome page transmitted to the monochrome printer 15 specified by the workflow management unit 23. This is a page number correspondence table. In this correspondence table, the page numbers in the original document data are 1, 2, and 4, and the output order to the monochrome printer 15 is associated with the first page, the second page, and the third page. It has been. For this reason, it is understood that the data on the third page in the output order to the monochrome printer 15 corresponds to the fourth page in the original document data.

  When the correspondence is made as in the page number correspondence table, the workflow management unit 23 specifies the IP address of the monochrome printer 15 in step 314, information on the page number correspondence table, and information on the paper feed tray designation table described above. Is sent to the print data management unit 25. In step 315, the print data management unit 25 that has received a print instruction from the workflow management unit 23 requests the command insertion unit 28 to insert a command. Then, the command insertion unit 28 appropriately prints the printed matter of the color printer 14 set in the inserter of the monochrome printer 15 and the manual feed tray based on the information of the page number correspondence table and the information of the paper feed tray designation table from the workflow management unit 23. Generate an insert command to insert at a position.

  Specifically, the command insertion unit 28 determines that the printed matter currently set in the inserter is output to the monochrome printer 15 on the second page based on the relationship between the information in the page number correspondence table and the information in the paper feed tray designation table. And the printed matter currently set in the manual feed tray interpret that the output order to the monochrome printer 15 should be placed next to the data on the third page. When the layout relationship of all pages has been specified, a PJL command for outputting the final printed matter from the monochrome printer 15 is generated.

FIG. 12 shows an example of the PJL command. In this figure, “@PJL SET INSERTSHEETTRAY = INSERTER”, “@PJL” indicates that the output set to the monochrome printer 15 is set before the data of the second page in the output order to the monochrome printer 15.
"SET INSERTSHEETCONDITION = BEFORE", "@PJL SET INSERTSHEETPAGE = 3" and the printed matter set in the manual feed tray indicates that the output order to the monochrome printer is set next to the data on the third page PJL
SET INSERTSHEETTRAY = BYPASS ”,“ @PJL SET INSERTSHEETCONDITION = AFTER ”,“ @PJL SET
INSERTSHEETPAGE = 3 "is described.

  The command insertion unit 28 sends the PJL command generated in this way to the print data management unit 25 in step 316, and the print data management unit 25 stores the PJL command and the monochrome stored in step 303 above in step 317. A request for printing is made by transmitting to the monochrome printer 15 that the page group and “with staples” included in the print request are designated.

  Based on the received PJL command, the monochrome printer 15 prints a monochrome page and outputs a printed matter in which the printed color page set in the inserter and the manual feed tray is inserted at the position specified by the PJL command. At the same time, in response to the designation of stapling, stapling processing is performed on the printed matter. When printing in the monochrome printer 15 is completed, in step 318, the print data management unit 25 notifies the workflow management unit 23 that printing has ended. By such a process, a color page and a monochrome page are mixed, and a result arranged in the same order as the page order of the original document data can be output.

  In the above-described embodiment, the printer information of the color printer is set to no sort printing. Next, an embodiment in which sort printing is set will be described. The processing shown in steps 300 to 305 in FIG. 3 is the same as that in the above-described embodiment. In step 306, the workflow management unit 23 displays the “printer 1”, which is a color printer, from the device information management unit 26. Information such as “with sort printing” as shown in FIG. Thereafter, in step 307, the workflow management unit 23 instructs the print data management unit 25 to print a color page. In step 308, the print data management unit 25 transmits the print data of the color page to the printer 1. . Since the printer 1 is set to “with sort printing”, as shown in FIG. 14, a printed matter printed in the order of page 3, page 5, page 3, and page 5 is obtained.

  As for the output in the monochrome printer, first, page 2 of the document is printed, then page 3 is inserted, then page 4 is printed, and finally page 5 is inserted. Therefore, when a color printer having “no sort printing” is employed, it is necessary to set the printed matter of page 3 and the printed matter of page 5 to different trays and insert them from different trays. However, when the color printer with “sort printing” is used, the pages are printed in the order of page 3 and page 5, so that they can be set in the same tray. Therefore, when a printer with the printer information “with sort printing” is searched and adopted, the designation of the paper feed tray in the paper feed designation table can be designated as the same tray as shown in FIG. In FIG. 15, an inserter is designated as one paper feed tray.

  In this way, since the same tray can be specified, in step 312, the display on the display screen by the display unit 27, as shown in FIG. 16, “The printed matter printed from the printer 1 is sent to the inserter of the printer 2. Please set. "

  Further, as shown in FIG. 17, the PJL command generated by the command insertion unit 28 has “@PJL SET INSERTSHEETTRAY =” written as an inserter. Thereafter, the PJL command is inserted into the print data, and the command insertion unit 28 sends it back to the print data management unit 25 in step 316, and the print data management unit 25 sends the print data to the printer 2 in step 317. Send and execute printing.

  The printer 2 sequentially inserts printed color pages set in the inserter at positions designated by the PJL command while printing monochrome pages. In this case, even if paper is fed from the same tray, a color page and a monochrome page are mixed, and a result arranged in the same order as the page order of the document can be output. When printing in the monochrome printer is completed, the print data management unit 25 notifies the workflow management unit 23 that printing has been completed in step 317.

  Next, an embodiment will be described in which the color / monochrome determination unit 24 changes the determination result for determining whether each page of the document is a color page or a monochrome page, and executes printing based on the change. To do. Even if it is a color page, if color printing is not necessary, if you want to reduce the printing cost by reducing color printing as much as possible, or print as many pages as possible with a high-performance monochrome printer at high speed You may want to improve. This is useful in such cases.

  The color / monochrome determination unit 24 determines a color page and a monochrome page, classifies each page of the document, and then requests the display unit 27 to display the classification result. The display content can be the content shown in FIG. In FIG. 18, a page number for identifying each page and information indicating a data group indicating whether the page is classified into a color page group or a monochrome page group are displayed in correspondence with each other. It is displayed as a list box so that it can be changed. The user changes the data group by selecting a list box of information to be changed and selecting information different from the currently displayed information. With this change, the table shown in FIG. 18 is updated. FIG. 18 shows that the page 5 is determined to be “color” by the color / monochrome determination unit 24 but is being changed to “monochrome” by the user. When the user changes to “monochrome”, page 5 of this table is set to monochrome, and in the subsequent processing, that is, the processing after step 304 in FIG. 3, page 5 is recognized as a monochrome page and is converted into a monochrome page. Printing is executed.

  As still another embodiment, client computers 11 to 13, two color printers 14a and 14b, one monochrome printer 15, and a print server 16 are connected to a network 10 as shown in FIG. Processing performed by the client computer 11 in the network configuration will be described. In this case, the device information management unit 26 searches for two color printers as printers that execute color printing, and then searches for one monochrome printer that executes monochrome printing. Therefore, the workflow management unit 23 acquires printer information of three printers as shown in FIGS. 20 (a), (b), and (c). FIG. 20 shows information of printer names “printer 1” and “printer 3” as color printers and printer name “printer 2” as monochrome printers.

  Since the device information management unit 26 has searched for two color printers as printers that execute color printing, the device information management unit 26 requests the display unit 27 to display a selection screen for allowing the user to select a printer as shown in FIG. The selection screen can include information used as a determination material when the user selects a printer, for example, information such as “no sort printing” or “sort printing”. In FIG. 21, a check box is displayed on the selection screen, and the user can select a printer by checking the check box. The device information management unit 26 determines that the checked printer is the printer selected by the user, and identifies it as a printer that prints a color page. In FIG. 21, since the check box of “Printer 1” is checked, it is determined that “Printer 1” is the selected printer, and the printer information of “Printer 1” is obtained in Step 306 of FIG. Return to 23. The subsequent processing is the same as step 307 to step 318 in FIG.

  In general, color printers are often used with low functionality (low-end devices) in consideration of cost, while monochrome printers are inexpensive and are therefore multi-functional (high-end devices). Is done. For this reason, first, a color printer that prints a color page is searched, then a monochrome printer is searched, a color-printed printed matter is set in a paper feed tray of the monochrome printer, printed, and stapled as a finishing process. The form has been described. However, the order may be reversed, first searching for a monochrome printer, then searching for a color printer, setting the printed matter printed in black and white at the feeding position of the color printer, and Monochrome pages can also be inserted at various positions.

  So far, each software has been described as executing each process. These software can be provided as a recording medium in which the software is recorded as a program. Examples of the recording medium include an HDD, a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD, a memory card, and the like. Moreover, it can comprise as a means to perform each process, and can also be provided as an apparatus provided with each means.

The classification is not limited to the classification of color pages and monochrome pages, but can be classified according to data size, resolution, and the like. In this case, depending on the data size, for example, printing can be performed from a printer that is charged at a printing speed (PPM) of a predetermined speed or higher and a printer that is not charged at a lower speed. Further, depending on the resolution, for example, printing can be performed from a printer that can be output at a resolution higher than a predetermined resolution and charged, and a printer that is output at a lower resolution and is not charged. The classification is not limited to the classification into two data groups, but can be classified into three or more data groups and output from three or more printers.
The finishing process can include punching in addition to staples. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that all software is present on the client computer. However, the printer driver can be present in the print server 16 shown in FIG. 1, and in this case, the workflow management unit, color / monochrome determination unit, printing A data management unit, a device information management unit, a display unit, and a command insertion unit may also exist in the print server 16. The workflow management unit, color / monochrome determination unit, print data management unit, device information management unit, display unit, and command insertion unit may exist in the printer itself. In this embodiment, the printer driver 22 and the workflow management unit 23 are separate software, but they may be one piece of software.

  Although the present invention has been described with the above-described embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and other embodiments, additions, modifications, deletions, and the like can be conceived by those skilled in the art. It can be changed within the range, and any embodiment is included in the scope of the present invention as long as the effects and effects of the present invention are exhibited.

1 is a network configuration diagram in which client computers according to an embodiment of the present invention are connected via a network. The software block diagram of the client computer shown in FIG. The sequence diagram which illustrated the flow of the process performed by the software shown in FIG. The figure which illustrated document information. The figure which illustrated the printing request. The figure which illustrated the classification table. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating printer information according to the first embodiment. The figure which showed the printing result of 1st Example. The figure which showed the paper-feed designation table of 1st Example. The figure which showed the screen which displays the paper feed position of 1st Example. The figure which showed the corresponding | compatible table of 1st Example. The figure which showed the PJL command of 1st Example. The figure which showed the printer information of 2nd Example. The figure which showed the printing result of 2nd Example. The figure which showed the paper supply designation | designated table of 2nd Example. The figure which showed the screen which displays the paper feed position of 2nd Example. The figure which showed the PJL command of 2nd Example. The figure which showed the screen displayed in order to make a user select color and monochrome in 3rd Example. The network block diagram of 4th Example. The figure which showed the printer information of 4th Example. The figure which showed the screen displayed in order to make a user select a printer in 4th Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Network, 11-13 ... Client computer, 14, 14a, 14b ... Color printer, 15 ... Monochrome printer, 16 ... Print server, 20 ... Application, 21 ... OS, 22 ... Printer driver, 23 ... Workflow management part, 24 ... Color / monochrome determination unit, 25 ... Print data management unit, 26 ... Device information management unit, 27 ... Display unit, 28 ... Command insertion unit, 29 ... Network interface

Claims (15)

A printing control device that performs printing control based on information of a printing device,
Classification means for classifying the input document data into one page group and another page group constituting the document data;
Storage means for storing the one page group and the other page group classified by the classification means together with page identification information in which a relationship between each page group and the document data is recorded;
Search means for searching for a first printing device for printing the one page group and a second printing device for printing the other page group based on the information of the printing device;
Display that displays the printed matter of the one page group printed by the first printing device at a predetermined paper feed position of the second printing device and accepts a print instruction for the other page group Means,
When a print instruction for the other page group is issued, a print command for arranging the pages of the other page group in order of pages of the document data is generated based on the page identification information. And a transmission unit that transmits the information to the second printing apparatus together with the other page group. The classification means classifies the document data into a color page group and a monochrome page group,
The print control according to claim 1, wherein the search unit searches for a printing apparatus capable of printing a color page group as the first printing apparatus and a printing apparatus capable of printing a monochrome page group as the second printing apparatus. apparatus.   The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search unit specifies a predetermined paper feed position of the second printing apparatus based on a search result of the second printing apparatus.   The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the page identification information includes at least information on an order in the document data of a page included in the one page group and a page included in the other page group.   The information on the printing device includes information on the presence or absence of paper in the paper feed tray, and the display means displays that the printed material of the one page group is placed in a paper feed tray on which no paper is placed. The print control apparatus according to claim 1.   The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information on the printing apparatus further includes information on whether sort printing or stapling is possible. The display means displays the information of each page of the color page group so as to select whether to perform color or monochrome printing,
The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the classification unit performs classification according to the content selected by the display unit. A computer-readable program for realizing a print control method that makes it possible to obtain a printed matter arranged in page order while printing each print data corresponding to each page of a document from a plurality of printing apparatuses,
Classifying input document data into one page group and another page group constituting the document data;
Storing the one page group and the other page group classified in the classifying step together with page identification information in which a relationship between each page group and the document data is described;
Searching for a first printing device for printing the one page group and a second printing device for printing the other page group based on the information of the printing device;
Receiving a print instruction for the other page group by displaying that the printed matter of the one page group printed by the first printing apparatus is arranged at a predetermined paper feed position of the second printing apparatus. When,
When a print instruction for the other page group is issued, a print command for arranging the pages of the other page group in order of pages of the document data is generated based on the page identification information. A program for causing a computer to execute the step of transmitting the information to the second printing apparatus together with the other page group. In the classifying step, the document data is classified into a color page group and a monochrome page group,
9. The program according to claim 8, wherein in the searching step, a printing device capable of printing a color page group as the first printing device and a printing device capable of printing a monochrome page group as the second printing device are searched. .   The program according to claim 8, wherein in the searching step, a predetermined paper feeding position of the second printing apparatus is specified based on a search result of the second printing apparatus.   The program according to claim 8, wherein the page identification information includes at least information on an order in the document data of a page included in the one page group and a page included in the other page group.   The information on the printing apparatus includes information on the presence / absence of paper in the paper feed tray, and the displaying step displays that the printed material of the one page group is placed in the paper feed tray on which no paper is placed. The program according to claim 8.   The program according to claim 8, wherein the information about the printing apparatus further includes information regarding whether sort printing or stapling is possible. In the displaying step, the information of each page included in the color page group is displayed so as to select whether color or monochrome printing is performed,
The program according to claim 8, wherein in the classifying step, classification is performed according to the selection content in the displaying step.   The recording medium with which the program of any one of Claims 8-14 was recorded.

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