PRINT DATA CONTROL APPARATUS, PRINTING APPARATUS, AND PRINTING SYSTEM

• US 20190324698A1
• Filed: 03/17/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: KIKUMOTO, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 11,200,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1206 resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1226 Discovery of devices having required properties
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1232 Transmitting printer device capabilities, e.g. upon request or periodically
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/126 Job scheduling, e.g. queuing, determine appropriate device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1261 by using alternate printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1279 Controller construction, e.g. aspects of the interface hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1291 Pool of printer devices: self-managing printing devices in a network, e.g. without a server

Abstract

A print data control apparatus includes a reception section that receives print data which is to be printed in a first printing apparatus; a transmission section that transmits the print data, which is received by the reception section, to a second printing apparatus; an information acquisition section that acquires information related to the second printing apparatus; and an acceptance section that accepts an instruction which is to be provided to the second printing apparatus that designates a type of processing with respect to the print data transmitted by the transmission section, that is, an instruction which is selected based on information acquired by the information acquisition section.

Claims

1. A print data control apparatus comprising:

a reception section that receives print data which is to be printed in a first printing apparatus;

a transmission section that transmits the print data, which is received by the reception section, to a second printing apparatus;

an information acquisition section that acquires information related to the second printing apparatus; and

an acceptance section that accepts an instruction which is to be provided to the second printing apparatus that designates a type of processing with respect to the print data transmitted by the transmission section, that is, an instruction which is selected based on information acquired by the information acquisition section.

2. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an acquired information display section that displays the information acquired by the information acquisition section.

3. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a determination section that determines whether or not to transmit the print data to the second printing apparatus using the information acquired by the information acquisition section; and

a determination result display section that displays a determination result acquired by the determination section.

4. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires pieces of information related to a plurality of the second printing apparatuses, and

wherein the acceptance section further accepts a selection for transmitting the data to any one printing apparatus among the plurality of second printing apparatuses.

5. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the transmission section further transmits a type of processing, which is designated in the instruction accepted by the acceptance section, to the second printing apparatus.

6. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the transmission section transmits the print data to any one of a plurality of print queues, which are prepared in the second printing apparatus, for each type of processing of the print data.

7. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires information related to a work state of the second printing apparatus.

8. The print data control apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein, in a case where the second printing apparatus is in printing another print data, the information acquisition section acquires time, which is taken until another print data is completely printed, as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

9. The print data control apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein, in a case where the second printing apparatus is in waiting for another print data to be printed, the information acquisition section acquires the number of print data, which is waiting to be printed, as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

10. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires information related to a residual quantity of expendable supplies which are allowed to be used by the second printing apparatus.

11. The print data control apparatus according to claim 10,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires a residual quantity of recording media, which are allowed to be used by the second printing apparatus, as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

12. The print data control apparatus according to claim 10,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires a residual quantity of inks, which are allowed to be used by the second printing apparatus, as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

13. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires information related to a performance of the second printing apparatus.

14. The print data control apparatus according to claim 13,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires information for specifying a model of the second printing apparatus, as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

15. The print data control apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the information acquisition section further acquires a version of the second printing apparatus as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

16. The print data control apparatus according to claim 13,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires a type of post-processing, which is allowed to be performed in the second printing apparatus, as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

17. The print data control apparatus according to claim 13,

wherein the information acquisition section acquires a capacity of the print data, which is allowed to be stored in a storage device of the second printing apparatus, as the information related to the second printing apparatus.

18. The print data control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the acceptance section is capable of accepting an instruction to cause the second printing apparatus to convert the print data into image data and to postpone printing the image data.

19. A printing apparatus comprising:

a printing section; and

a print data control section that controls print data,

wherein the print data control section includes

a reception section that receives the print data which is to be printed in the printing section,

a transmission section that transmits the print data, which is received by the reception section, to an external printing apparatus,

an information acquisition section that acquires information related to the external printing apparatus, and

an acceptance section that accepts an instruction which is to be provided to the external printing apparatus that designates a type of processing with respect to the print data transmitted by the transmission section, that is, an instruction which is selected based on information acquired by the information acquisition section.

20. A printing system comprising:

a first printing apparatus;

a second printing apparatus; and

a print data control apparatus that controls print data which is to be printed in the first printing apparatus or the second printing apparatus,

wherein the print data control apparatus includes

a reception section that receives the print data which is printed in the first printing apparatus,

a transmission section that transmits the print data, which is received by the reception section, to the second printing apparatus,

an information acquisition section that acquires information related to the second printing apparatus, and

an acceptance section that accepts an instruction which is to be provided to the second printing apparatus that designates a type of processing with respect to the print data transmitted by the transmission section, that is, an instruction which is selected based on information acquired by the information acquisition section.