JP3134539B2 - Printer control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer control device for performing efficient print control when an interrupt print request is made to a printer control device on a network system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an interrupt print request is issued during print control of document data expressed in a page description language having page independence, the currently executed print processing is interrupted and restarted. After writing the page image in the memory, the print processing of the document data of the interrupt print request is preferentially performed.

Here, the page description language (PDL) is divided into an independent page description language and a non-independent page description language. As an independent page description language,
For example, Interpress (Xerox, USA) is a typical example, and PostScript (Adobe) is a typical non-independent description language. According to an independent page description language, one document data is managed and described in page units. According to a non-independent page description language, the entire document data is managed and described as one data. . Therefore, document data described in an independent page description language can manage this document in page units.

[0004] As a conventional printing system,
For example, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 3-65721, and a configuration diagram thereof is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, a terminal device A, a terminal device B, a terminal device C, and a print server PS are connected via a bus-type local area network 30, and a printer P is connected to a print server PS.
And prints out.

[0005] Now, from the terminal device A to the print server PS
During printing of the document data DA sent to the terminal device B,
Sends an urgent document data DB to the print server PS, and when interrupt printing occurs, the print server P
S suspends the print processing of the document data DA and stores the page image when the document data DA is restarted in the memory in the print server PS. When this storage is completed, the printing process of the document data DB is started. Then, when the printing process of the document data DB is completed, the printing process of the document data DA is restarted based on the page image of the document data DA stored in the memory.

Accordingly, the page image when the printing process of the document data DA is interrupted is stored in the memory.
There is a problem that a large amount of memory is required.

[0007] Further, if, for example, a more urgent interrupt print request is generated from the terminal device C during the interrupt print processing of the document data DB from the terminal device B, the document data DC from the terminal device C is ignored. Interrupt printing is not executed.

Therefore, there is a problem that the interrupt printing cannot be performed during the interrupt printing process.

[0009]

As described above, conventionally, in a printer control apparatus which sequentially prints document data expressed in a page description language having page independence and prints out the data to a printer, an input document is If an interrupt print request is issued during the data print process, the printing process of the document data being processed is interrupted, and the page image at the time of the interrupt print request is stored in the memory. There was a point.

In addition, if an interrupt print request is issued during interrupt print, another interrupt print process cannot be performed.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and to provide an interrupt / restart print processing when an interrupt print request occurs during a print processing of document data described in a page description language having page independence. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer control device which does not require an enormous amount of memory and enables interrupt printing during interrupt printing.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a first aspect of the present invention is to sequentially receive document data expressed in a page description language having page independence and convert the received document data to image data. A first storage unit for sequentially storing document data received together with a print request, and a page sequence of document data sequentially read from the first storage unit. Means, developing means for developing document data into image data for each page based on the page sequence created by the creating means, control means for controlling execution of print processing, and an interrupted state including processed page information Second storage means for storing information, wherein the control means executes a print process currently being executed when an interrupt print request is issued. The development of the document data by the development unit is interrupted in page units, and the interruption status information of the interrupted print processing is stored in the second storage unit, and the first data of the document data corresponding to the interruption print request is stored. The interruption printing process of the document data is executed by changing the storage order in the storage unit to the top, and after the interruption printing process is completed, based on the interruption state information stored in the second storage unit, The printing process of the interrupted document data is resumed by causing the creation unit to create a page sequence of pages.

[0013]

According to the present invention, when an interrupt print request is issued during a print process, the document process is described in a page description language having page independence. The print information at the time of interruption for each document is stored in the unit, and interrupt printing processing is performed. When the interrupt printing is completed, a page sequence is created with reference to the print information at the time of interruption stored in the second storage means, and the page sequence is developed into an image based on the page sequence and printed. Is resumed. If there is a further interrupt print request during the interrupt print, the print processing during the interrupt print is interrupted in page units, the print information at the time of the interrupt print interrupt is stored in the second storage means, and a new interrupt print request is issued. Interrupted printing of the selected document data is started.

[0014]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a printer control device 1 includes an interrupt detection unit 10 that detects an interrupt print request 4 having a higher priority order than a print request 3.
The queuing for sequentially storing the document data (hereinafter, referred to as “document”) for which the print request 3 has been made in the queue and the management of the document in the queue and the document to be subjected to interrupt printing when interrupt printing occurs at the head of the queue. When an interrupt print request is detected by the queuing unit 11 and the interrupt detection unit 10, an interrupt print start information unit 12 is set to hold a flag to indicate that an interrupt print request has been issued. The print information storage unit 13 stores the number of sheets output at the time of interruption and the page number on which the printing process was being performed as print information, and creates a page sequence of the document retrieved from the queuing unit 11 and interrupts by interrupt printing. In the case of a later restart, the print information stored in the print information A page sequence creating unit 14 for creating the remaining page sequence based on the page sequence, an image developing unit 15 for developing page data into a bitmap image based on the page sequence created by the page sequence creating unit 14, and an image developing unit 15 An output unit 16 that transfers the bitmap image output from the printer 2 to the printer 2 and performs output management in page units and document units;
When the flag of the interrupt print start information section 12 is set, the print processing is interrupted for each page, the print information at the time of interruption is taken out from the output section 16, the print information is stored in the print information storage section 13, and the interrupt is performed. The flag of the print start information section 12 is turned off, the interrupt print document stored in the queuing section 11 is arranged at the top, the interrupt print document arranged at the top is taken out, and the print processing is performed. The control unit 17 controls the restart processing of the print process of the document interrupted by the interrupt printing based on the print information stored in the print information storage unit 13 based on the information of the end of the interrupt printing from.

Here, a print request 3 is sent to the printer controller 1.
Alternatively, the document data for which the interrupt print request 4 is made is described in a page description language having page independence, for example, Interpress.

Next, the interrupt printing process of the printer control device will be described with reference to a flowchart.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the interrupt printing process of the printer controller 1. In FIG. 2, first, the control unit 17 reads a document at the head of a queue in the queuing unit 11 (step 101). Next, the page sequence creation unit 14 creates a page sequence of the read document (step 10).
2). Then, the control unit 17 determines whether or not the flag of the interrupt print start information unit 12 is on (step 103). If the flag is not on, the page created by the page sequence creation unit 14 The page number to be printed is updated based on the sequence (step 108), and further developed into a bitmap image by the image developing unit 15 (step 109). And
The developed bitmap image is transferred from the output unit 16 to the printer 2 and printed (step 110). Further, it is determined whether or not there is still a page to be printed of the read document (step 111). If there are more pages to be printed, the process proceeds to step 103, where the printing process for the next page is performed.

On the other hand, in step 103, if the flag of the interrupt printing start information section 12 is on, that is, if it is determined that there is an interrupt printing request, the control section 17
Suspends the printing process of the document by the image developing unit 15 or the like (step 104), and stores the number of output sheets and the print information as the printed page information in the print information storage unit 13 (step 105). . Then, the flag of the interrupt printing start information section 12 is turned off (step 106). Here, the reason why the flag of the interrupt print start information section 12 is turned off is that a new interrupt print request may be issued. Further, the control unit 17 puts the document in the queuing unit 11 for which the interrupt printing request 4 has been made, at the head of the queue (step 107). Therefore, the interrupted document before interrupt printing is located next to the document for which interrupt printing request 4 has been issued. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step 101, where the document of the interrupt print request 4 located at the head of the queue is read, and the printing process of the document requested by the interrupt print request 4 is performed.

If it is determined in step 111 that there is no page of the read document to be printed, the process proceeds to step 112 to determine whether print information interrupted by the interrupt print request is stored in the print information storage unit 13. It is determined whether or not there is still print processing interrupted by interrupt printing (step 112). If there is still interrupt print processing, the document at the head of the queue of the queuing unit 11 is read. (Step 113) The page sequence creation unit 14 creates a page sequence based on the print information at the time of interruption stored in the print information storage unit 13 (Step 114), and restarts the printing process. Then, the process proceeds to step 103, where whether the flag of the interrupt print start information section 12 is on or not is determined.
It is determined whether a new interrupt printing process should be performed.

On the other hand, if there is no interrupt printing process in step 112, the interrupt printing process ends.

If there is an interrupted print request 4 during the printing process of the document for which the print request 3 has been issued, the interrupted print process is performed depending on whether the flag in step 103 is set or not. If there is a new interrupt print request with a higher priority during the print process for the document of print request 4, a new interrupt print process is performed in step 103 by turning on a new flag. At this time, the print information storage unit 13 stores the print information at the time of interruption of the document for which the print request 3 was interrupted, as well as the print information at the time of interruption of the document for which the print request 3 was interrupted. The queues are arranged in the order of a document for which a new interrupt print request has been made, a document for which interrupt print request 4 has been made, and a print request document from the top. The difference is that the print information stored in the print information storage unit 13 is referred to at the time of the print restart processing of the interrupted document.

Of course, since the amount of print information stored in the print information storage unit 13 is small, even if there is a higher priority interrupt print request, the same process is performed.

As described above, since the amount of print information stored in the print information storage unit 13 is small during the interrupt printing process, the interrupt printing process during the interrupt printing process is not rejected. In addition, since the printing process is resumed in page units from the page at the time of the interruption, there is no waste.
Efficient printing can be performed.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, when an interrupt print request is issued during print processing, the document data is described in a page description language having page independence, so that the print processing is performed in page units. Is interrupted, the print information at the time of interruption for each document in page units is stored in the second storage means, and interrupt print processing is performed. When the interrupt printing is completed, a page sequence is created with reference to the print information at the time of interruption stored in the second storage means, and the page sequence is developed into an image based on the page sequence and printed. Is resumed. If there is a further interrupt print request during the interrupt print, the print processing during the interrupt print is interrupted in page units, the print information at the time of the interrupt print interrupt is stored in the second storage means, and a new interrupt print request is issued. Interrupted printing of the selected document data is started.

Accordingly, the print information at the time of the interruption interrupted by the interrupt print request is stored for each document in page units, and the memory capacity required for resuming the interrupted print processing can be reduced. During this process, even if the client issues a new interrupt print request, the new interrupt print request is advantageously accepted.

Further, the restarting process of the interrupted printing after the interrupt printing is restarted from the page at the time when the interrupt printing request is generated. Therefore, there is no page to be printed again, and efficient printing without waste. This has the advantage that processing can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a printer control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an interrupt printing process of the printer control device.

FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram of a conventional printing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer control device 2 Printer 3 Print request 4 Interrupt print request 10 Interrupt detection part 11
Queuing unit 12 Interruption print start information unit 13 Print information storage unit 14 Page sequence unit 15 Image development unit 1
6 Output unit 17 Control unit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printer control device for sequentially receiving document data expressed in a page description language having page independence, developing the received document data into image data, and outputting the image data. A first storage unit for sequentially storing, a creating unit for creating a page sequence of the document data sequentially read from the first storage unit, and a page for the document data based on the page sequence created by the creating unit. Developing means for developing image data for each image, control means for controlling execution of print processing, and second storage means for storing interrupted state information including processed page information.
The control means, when an interrupt print request is made, interrupts the printing process currently being executed for each page of the expansion of the document data by the expansion means, and performs the interrupted printing. The interruption status information of the processing is stored in the second storage means, and the storage order of the document data corresponding to the interrupt print request in the first storage means is changed to the top, and the interrupt print processing of the document data is executed. After the interruption printing process is completed, by causing the creation unit to create a page sequence of unprocessed pages based on the interruption status information stored in the second storage unit, A printer control device for resuming print processing.