Information processor, method for processing information and memory medium for storing program readable by computer

• US 6,934,046 B1
• Filed: 10/31/2000
• Issued: 08/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Nishikawa, Satoshi, Mori, Yasuo, Nakagiri, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): WALLERSON, MARK E
• Application Number:
  US09/699,389
• Time in Patent Office: 1,757 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.15, 358/1.1, 358/1.2, 358/1.9, 358/1.13, 358/1.16, 358/1.17, 358/450, 358/451, 358/452, 358/453, 358/1.12, 358/1.14
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1206 resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1255 Settings incompatibility, e.g. constraints, user requirements vs. device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1262 by grouping or ganging jobs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server

Abstract

In order to compose a plurality of print jobs together to prepare one composed job and provide a desired printed result with no inconvenience to a user, an information processor of the present invention includes a generator for generating print setting information for the composed job, for analyzing the print setting information of a plurality of print jobs and unifying information which can be respectively set only to one print job when a plurality of print jobs are instructed to be composed together so as to obtain one composed job.

Claims

1. An information processor for generating printing data to be transmitted to a printer comprising:

an intermediate code conversion unit for converting data to be printed which is generated by an application into a print job of an intermediate code format and temporarily storing the print job in association with print setting information for the data to be printed;

a composition instructing unit for instructing a plurality of print jobs of the intermediate code format converted by said intermediate code conversion unit to be composed together so as to generate one composed job;

a discrimination unit for analyzing the print setting information of the plurality of print jobs stored by said intermediate code conversion unit when said composition instructing unit instructs the plurality of print jobs to be composed together so as to obtain one composed job, and for discriminating whether the plurality of print jobs have a same print setting or different print settings for a certain print setting item for which each print job is allowed to have one unique print setting;

a confirmation message display unit for, if said discrimination unit discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print settings for the print setting item, displaying a confirmation message indicating that the different print settings should be unified to a common print setting; and

a setting unifier unit for generating the print setting information for the composed job based on the common print setting, after said confirmation message display unit displays the confirmation message.

2. An information processor according to claim 1, wherein said discrimination unit discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print settings for the print setting item, and said confirmation message display unit displays a confirmation message for selection between a process in which the settings are unified and a process in which the print jobs are not composed together.

3. An information processor according to claim 1, wherein said intermediate code conversion unit temporarily stores the print job of the intermediate code format as a page description file by a page unit.

4. An information processor according to claim 3, wherein information for designating the page description file laid out on a physical page is added to the print setting information of the composed job.

5. An information processor according to claim 1, wherein the print setting information is temporarily stored as a print setting file of each print job.

6. An information processor according to claim 1, further comprising a preview display controller for controlling a preview based on the print setting information of the print jobs or the composed job to be displayed.

7. An information processor according to claim 1, further comprising an order controller for operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to reshuffle the order of the print jobs.

8. An information processor according to claim 1, further comprising a job cancelling unit for operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to cancel a specific print job.

9. An information processor according to claim 1, further comprising a job divider for dividing the composed job into a plurality of print jobs before they are joined together.

10. An information processor according to claim 1, further comprising a job duplicating unit for designating the print job or the composed job to prepare the duplication of the designated print job.

11. An information processor according to claim 3, further comprising a setting initializing unit for returning the intermediate code format as the base of the job to an initial state upon preparation of the data.

12. An information processor according to claim 1, further comprising a page editing unit for cancelling a page designated relative to a logical page in the print job or the composed job.

13. An information processor according to claim 3, further comprising a printing data generator for generating the printing data to be transmitted to the printer on the basis of the data of the intermediate code format which is temporarily stored by said intermediate code conversion unit.

14. An information processor according to claim 13, further comprising:

a description instruction generator for converting the data of the intermediate code format temporarily stored by said intermediate code conversion unit into a description instruction which can be interpreted by the description unit of an OS and outputting the converted data;

a print instruction allocator for sending a print instruction received through the description unit of the OS from the application to said intermediate data converter and sending the print instruction received through the description unit of the OS from said description instruction generator to said printing data generator.

15. An information processor according to claim 14, wherein the description instruction is a GDI function, the print instruction is a DDI function and the printing data is a printer language.

16. An information processor according to claim 1, further comprising a composed job information generator for generating the layout information of the composed job on the basis of the layout information of the plurality of print jobs when said composition instructing unit instructs the plurality of print jobs to be composed together so as to have one composed job.

17. An information processor according to claim 16, wherein said composed job information generator generates the layout information of the composed job for each physical page on the basis of the layout information of the plurality of print jobs.

18. An information processor according to claim 16, further comprising a layout unification instructing unit for instructing the layout information of the composed job to be unified, wherein said composed job information generator unifies the layout information of the composed job by all the physical pages when said layout unification instructing unit instructs the layout information to be unified.

19. An information processor according to claim 18, wherein said composed job information generator unifies the layout information of the composed job to prescribed layout information.

20. An information processor according to claim 18, wherein said composed job information generator unifies the layout information of the composed job to the layout information of the print job corresponding to a first physical page in the composed job.

21. An information processor according to claim 16, wherein said composed job information generator counts the number of logical pages of the composed job and determines the arrangement of the logical pages in the physical pages for each physical page on the basis of the layout information.

22. An information processor according to claim 21, further comprising a close arrangement instructing unit for instructing the logical pages of each print job to be closely arranged,

wherein said composed job information generator determines to closely arrange the logical pages in the physical pages when a close arrangement is instructed by said close arrangement instructing unit.

23. An information processor according to claim 22, wherein said close arrangement instructing unit performs one of a close arrangement for closely arranging the logical pages on the same physical pages, and a back side close arrangement instruction for compactly arranging the logical pages on back sides of the same physical pages when the back sides of the same physical pages are unoccupied,

wherein no instruction is made for a close arrangement by constantly changing the physical pages when original print jobs are different.

24. A method for generating printing data to be transmitted to a printer comprising:

an intermediate code conversion step of converting data to be printed which is generated by an application into a print job of an intermediate code format and temporarily storing the print job in association with print setting information for the data to be printed;

a composition instructing step of instructing a plurality of print jobs of the intermediate code format converted in said intermediate code conversion step to be composed together so as to generate one composed job;

a discrimination step of analyzing the print setting information of the plurality of print jobs stored in said intermediate code conversion step when, in said composition instructing step, the plurality of print jobs are instructed to be composed together so as to obtain one composed job, and discriminating whether the plurality of print jobs have a same print setting or different print settings for a certain print setting item for which each print job is allowed to have one unique print setting;

a confirmation message display step of, if said discrimination step discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print settings for the print setting item, displaying a confirmation message indicating that the different print settings should be unified to a common print setting; and

a setting unifier step of generating the print setting information for the composed job based on the common print setting, after said confirmation message display step displays the confirmation message.

25. A method for generating printing data according to claim 24, wherein said discrimination step discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print settings for the print setting item, and said confirmation message display step displays a confirmation message for selection between a process in which the settings are unified and a print process in which the print jobs are not composed together.

26. A method according to claim 24, wherein said intermediate code conversion step temporarily stores the print job of the intermediate code format as a page description file by a page unit.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein information for designating the page description files laid out on a physical page is added to the print setting information of the composed job.

28. A method according to claim 24, wherein the print setting information is temporarily stored as a print setting file of each print job.

29. A method according to claim 24, further comprising a preview display controlling step of controlling a preview based on the print setting information of the print jobs or the composed job to be displayed.

30. A method according to claim 24, further comprising an order controlling step of operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to reshuffle the order of the print jobs.

31. A method according to claim 24, further comprising a job cancelling step of operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to cancel a specific print job.

32. A method according to claim 24, further comprising a job dividing step of dividing the composed job into a plurality of print jobs before they are joined together.

33. A method according to claim 24, further comprising a job duplicating step of designating the print job or the composed job to prepare the duplication of the designated print job.

34. A method according to claim 26, further comprising a setting initializing step of returning the intermediate code format as the base of the job to an initial state upon preparation of the data on the basis of the print setting information.

35. A method according to claim 24, further comprising a page editing step of cancelling a page designated relative to a logical page in the print job or the composed job.

36. A method according to claim 26, further comprising a printing data generating step of generating the printing data to be transmitted to the printer on the basis of the data of the intermediate code format which is temporarily stored in said intermediate code conversion step.

37. A method according to claim 36, further comprising:

a description instruction generating step of converting the data of the intermediate code format temporarily stored in said intermediate code conversion step into a description instruction which can be interpreted in the description step of an OS and outputting the converted data; and

a print instruction allocating step of sending a print instruction received through the description step of the OS from the application to said intermediate data converting step and sending the print instruction received through the description step of the OS from said description instruction generating step to said printing data generating step.

38. A method according to claim 37, wherein the description instruction is a GDI function, and the print instruction is a DDI function and the printing data is a printer language.

39. A method according to claim 24, further comprising a composed job information generating step of generating the layout information of the composed job on the basis of the layout information of a plurality of print jobs when said composition instructing step instructs the plurality of print jobs to be composed together so as to have one composed job.

40. A method according to claim 39, wherein said composed job information generating step generates the layout information of the composed job for each physical page on the basis of the layout information of the plurality of print jobs.

41. A method according to claim 39, further comprising a layout unification instructing step of instructing the layout information of the composed job to be unified, wherein said composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job by all the physical pages when said layout unification instructing step instructs the layout information to be unified.

42. A method according to claim 41, wherein said composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job to prescribed layout information.

43. A method according to claim 41, wherein said composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job to the layout information of the print job corresponding to a first physical page in the composed job.

44. A method according to claim 39, wherein said composed job information generating step counts the number of logical pages of the composed job and determines the arrangement of the logical pages in the physical pages for each physical page on the basis of the layout information.

45. A method according to claim 44, further comprising a close arrangement instructing step of instructing the logical pages of each print job to be closely arranged in the composed job,

wherein said composed job information generating step determines to closely arrange the logical pages in the physical pages when a close arrangement is instructed by said close arrangement instructing step.

46. A method according to claim 45, wherein said close arrangement instructing step performs one of a close arrangement for closely arranging the logical pages on the same physical pages, and a back side close arrangement instruction for compactly arranging the logical pages on back sides of the same physical pages when the back sides of the same physical pages are unoccupied,

wherein no instruction for a close arrangement by constantly changing the physical pages when original print jobs are different.

47. A computer-readable memory medium which stores a printing data generating program for generating printing data to be transmitted to a printer, the program comprising:

code for an intermediate code conversion step of converting data to be printed which is generated by an application into a print job of an intermediate code format and temporarily storing the print job in association with print setting information for the data to be printed;

code for a composition instructing step of instructing a plurality of print jobs of the intermediate code format converted by said code for an intermediate code conversion step to be composed together so as to generate one composed job;

code for a discrimination step of analyzing the print setting information of the plurality of print jobs stored by said code for an intermediate code conversion step when said code for a composition instructing step instructs the plurality of print jobs to be composed together so as to obtain one composed job, and discriminating whether the plurality of print jobs have a same print setting or different print settings for a certain print setting item for which each print job is allowed to have one unique print setting;

code for a confirmation message display step of, if said code for a discrimination step discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print settings for the print setting item, displaying a confirmation message indicating that the different print settings should be unified to a common print setting; and

code for a setting unifier step of generating the print setting information for the composed job based on the common print setting after said code for a confirmation message display step displays the confirmation message.

48. A memory medium according to claim 47, wherein said code for a discrimination step discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print setting for the print setting item, said code for a confirmation message display step displays a confirmation message for selection between a process in which the settings are unified and a process in which the print jobs are not composed together.

49. A memory medium according to claim 47, wherein said code for an intermediate code conversion step temporarily stores the print job of the intermediate code format as a page description file by a page unit.

50. A memory medium according to claim 49, wherein information for designating the page description files laid out on a physical page is added to the print setting information of the composed job.

51. A memory medium according to claim 47, wherein the print setting information is temporarily stored as a print setting file of each print job.

52. A memory medium according to claim 47, further comprising a preview display controlling step of controlling a preview based on the print setting information of the print jobs or the composed job to be displayed.

53. A memory medium according to claim 47, further comprising code for an order controlling step of operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to reshuffle the order of the print jobs.

54. A memory medium according to claim 47, further comprising code for a job cancelling step of operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to cancel a specific print job.

55. A memory medium according to claim 47, further comprising code for a job dividing step of dividing the composed job into a plurality of print jobs before they are joined together.

56. A memory medium according to claim 47, further comprising code for a job duplicating step of designating the print job or the composed job to prepare the duplication of the designated print job.

57. A memory medium according to claim 49, further comprising code for a setting initializing step of returning the intermediate code format as the base of the job to an initial state upon preparation of the data on the basis of the print setting information.

58. A memory medium according to claim 47, further comprising code for a page editing step of cancelling a page designated relative to a logical page in the print job or the composed job.

59. A memory medium according to claim 49, further comprising code for a printing data generating step of generating the printing data to be transmitted to the printer on the basis of the data of the intermediate code format which is temporarily stored by said code for an intermediate code conversion step.

60. A memory medium according to claim 59, further comprising:

code for a description instruction generating step of converting the data of the intermediate code format temporarily stored by said code for an intermediate code conversion step into a description instruction which can be interpreted in the description step of an OS and outputting the converted data; and

code for a print instruction allocating step of sending a print instruction received through the description step of the OS from the application to said code for an intermediate data converting step and sending the print instruction received through the description step of the OS from said code for a description instruction generating step to said code for a printing data generating step.

61. A memory medium according to claim 60, wherein the description instruction is a GDI function, and the print instruction is a DDI function and the printing data is a printer language.

62. A memory medium according to claim 47, further comprising code for a composed job information generating step of generating the layout information of the composed job on the basis of the layout information of a plurality of print jobs when said code for a composition instructing step instructs a plurality of print jobs to be composed together so as to have one composed job.

63. A memory medium according to claim 62, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step generates the layout information of the composed job for each physical page on the basis of the layout information of a plurality of print jobs.

64. A memory medium according to claim 62, further comprising code for a layout unification instructing step of instructing the layout information of the composed job to be unified, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job by all the physical pages when said code for a layout unification instructing step instructs the layout information to be unified.

65. A memory medium according to claim 64, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job to prescribed layout information.

66. A memory medium according to claim 64, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job to the layout information of the print job corresponding to a first physical page in the composed job.

67. A memory medium according to claim 62, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step counts the number of logical pages of the composed job and determines the arrangement of the logical pages in the physical pages for each physical page on the basis of the layout information.

68. A memory medium according to claim 67, further comprising code for a close arrangement instructing step of instructing the logical pages of each print job to be closely arranged in the composed job,

wherein said code for a composed job information generating step determines to closely arrange the logical pages in the physical pages when a close arrangement is instructed by said code for a close arrangement instructing step.

69. A memory medium according to claim 68, wherein said code for a close arrangement instructing step performs one of a close arrangement for closely arranging the logical pages on the same physical pages, and a back side close arrangement instruction for compactly arranging the logical pages on back sides of the same physical pages when the back sides of the same physical pages are unoccupied,

wherein no instruction is made for a close arrangement by constantly changing the physical pages when original print jobs are different.

70. A printing data generating program for generating printing data to be transmitted to a printer, said program comprising:

code for an intermediate code conversion step of converting data to be printed which is generated by an application into a print job of an intermediate code format and temporarily storing the print job in association with print setting information for the data to be printed;

code for a composition instructing step of instructing a plurality of print jobs of the intermediate code format converted by said code for an intermediate code conversion step to be composed together so as to generate one composed job;

code for a discrimination step of analyzing the print setting information of the plurality of print jobs stored by said code for an intermediate code conversion step when said code for a composition instructing step instructs the plurality of print jobs to be composed together so as to obtain one composed job, and discriminating whether the plurality of print jobs have a same print setting or different print settings for a certain print setting item for which each print job is allowed to have one unique print setting;

code for a confirmation message display step of, if said code for a discrimination step discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print settings for the print setting item, displaying a confirmation message indicating that the different print settings should be unified to a common print setting; and

code for a setting unifier step of generating the print setting information for the composed job based on the common print setting after said code for a confirmation message display step displays the confirmation message.

71. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, wherein said code for a discrimination step discriminates that the plurality of print jobs have different print setting for the print setting item, said code for a confirmation message display step displays a confirmation message for selection between a process in which the settings are unified and a process in which the print jobs are not composed together.

72. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, wherein said code for an intermediate code conversion step temporarily stores the print job of the intermediate code format as a page description file by a page unit.

73. A printing data generating program according to claim 72, wherein information for designating the page description files laid out on a physical page is added to the print setting information of the composed job.

74. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, wherein the print setting information is temporarily stored as a print setting file of each print job.

75. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, further comprising a preview display controlling step of controlling a preview based on the print setting information of the print jobs or the composed job to be displayed.

76. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, further comprising code for an order controlling step of operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to reshuffle the order of the print jobs.

77. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, further comprising code for a job cancelling step of operating on the plurality of print jobs in the composed job to cancel a specific print job.

78. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, further comprising code for a job dividing step of dividing the composed job into a plurality of print jobs before they are joined together.

79. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, further comprising code for a job duplicating step of designating the print job or the composed job to prepare the duplication of the designated print job.

80. A printing data generating program according to claim 72, further comprising code for a setting initializing step of returning the intermediate code format as the base of the job to an initial state upon preparation of the data on the basis of the print setting information.

81. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, further comprising code for a page editing step of cancelling a page designated relative to a logical page in the print job or the composed job.

82. A printing data generating program according to claim 72, further comprising code for a printing data generating step of generating the printing data to be transmitted to the printer on the basis of the data of the intermediate code format which is temporarily stored by said code for an intermediate code conversion step.

83. A printing data generating program according to claim 82, further comprising:

code for a description instruction generating step of converting the data of the intermediate code format temporarily stored by said code for an intermediate code conversion step into a description instruction which can be interpreted in the description step of an OS and outputting the converted data; and

code for a print instruction allocating step of sending a print instruction received through the description step of the OS from the application to said code for an intermediate data converting step and sending the print instruction received through the description step of the OS from said code for a description instruction generating step to said code for a printing data generating step.

84. A printing data generating program according to claim 83, wherein the description instruction is a GDI function, and the print instruction is a DDI function and the printing data is a printer language.

85. A printing data generating program according to claim 70, further comprising code for a composed job information generating step of generating the layout information of the composed job on the basis of the layout information of a plurality of print jobs when said code for a composition instructing step instructs a plurality of print jobs to be composed together so as to have one composed job.

86. A printing data generating program according to claim 85, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step generates the layout information of the composed job for each physical page on the basis of the layout information of a plurality of print jobs.

87. A printing data generating program according to claim 85, further comprising code for a layout unification instructing step of instructing the layout information of the composed job to be unified, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job by all the physical pages when said code for a layout unification instructing step instructs the layout information to be unified.

88. A printing data generating program according to claim 87, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job to prescribed layout information.

89. A printing data generating program according to claim 87, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step unifies the layout information of the composed job to the layout information of the print job corresponding to a first physical page in the composed job.

90. A printing data generating program according to claim 75, wherein said code for a composed job information generating step counts the number of logical pages of the composed job and determines the arrangement of the logical pages in the physical pages for each physical page on the basis of the layout information.

91. A printing data generating program according to claim 90, further comprising code for a close arrangement instructing step of instructing the logical pages of each print job to be closely arranged in the composed job,

wherein said code for a composed job information generating step determines to closely arrange the logical pages in the physical pages when a close arrangement is instructed by said code for a close arrangement instructing step.

92. A printing data generating program according to claim 91, wherein said code for a close arrangement instructing step performs one of a close arrangement for closely arranging the logical pages on the same physical pages, and a back side close arrangement instruction for compactly arranging the logical pages on back sides of the same physical pages when the back sides of the same physical pages are unoccupied,

wherein no instruction is made for a close arrangement by constantly changing the physical pages when original print jobs are different.