PRINT CONTROL APPARATUS, PRINT CONTROL METHOD, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20160041796A1
• Filed: 01/13/2015
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HP Printing Korea Co., Ltd. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Bang, Jung-ho, Kim, Kyeong-man, CHO, Min-ki
• Granted Patent: US 9,423,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1219 with regard to consumables, e.g. ink, toner, paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1229 Printer resources management or printer maintenance, e.g. device status, power levels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1254 Automatic configuration, e.g. by driver
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A print control apparatus connectable to an image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a print control method, an image forming method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium are provided. The print control apparatus includes a manipulation inputter configured to receive a command to print a document, a controller configured to calculate a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving modes applicable to the document, and determine a print saving mode to be applied to the document based on the calculated toner amount, a printer driver configured to generate print data on the document according to the determined print saving mode, and a communication interface configured to transmit the generated print data to the image forming apparatus.

Claims

1. A print control apparatus connectable to an image forming apparatus, the print control apparatus comprising:

a manipulation inputter configured to receive a command to print a document;

a controller configured to calculate a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving modes applicable to the document, and determine a print saving mode to be applied to the document based on the calculated toner amount;

a printer driver configured to generate print data on the document according to the determined print saving mode; and

a communication interface configured to transmit the generated print data to the image forming apparatus.

2. The print control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller compares a calculated toner amount for each of the plurality of print saving mode with a preset toner amount, and determines a print saving mode in which a difference between the preset toner amount and the calculated toner amount is at a minimum amount as a print saving mode to be applied for the document.

3. The print control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print saving modes comprise a first print saving mode in which toner saving levels are differently set for objects included in the document.

4. The print control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print saving modes comprise a second print saving mode in which toner saving is not set for texts in the document, but toner saving is set for images or graphics in the documents.

5. The print control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print saving modes comprise a third print saving mode in which only boundary of images or graphics is printed.

6. The print control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the manipulation inputter receives selection of a page to which the print saving mode is applied, and

wherein the controller calculates the toner amount by applying each of the plurality of print saving modes to the selected page through the manipulation inputter.

7. The print control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a display that displays a plurality of preview images to which each of a plurality of print saving modes is applied and calculated toner amount,

wherein the controller, in response to one of the plurality of preview images being selected, determines a print saving mode that corresponds to the selected preview image as a print saving mode.

8. The print control apparatus of claim 7, wherein the controller controls the display to display a preview image to which a print saving mode where the calculated toner amount from among the plurality of print saving modes is not more than a preset toner amount is applied.

9. A print control apparatus connectable to an image forming apparatus, the print control apparatus comprising:

a manipulation inputter configured to receive a command to print a document;

a controller configured to calculate a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving mode applicable to the document, and determine a print saving mode to be applied to the document based on the calculated toner amount;

a printer driver configured to generate print data on the document; and

a communication interface configured to transmit the generated print data and information on the determined print saving mode to the image forming apparatus.

10. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

a communication interface configured to receive print data;

a controller to calculate a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving mode applicable to the print data, and determine a print saving mode to be applied to the print data based on the calculated toner amount; and

an image forming unit to print the received print data using the determined print saving mode.

11. A print control method, the method comprising:

receiving a command to print a document;

calculating a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving modes applicable to the document and determining a print saving mode to be applied to the document based on the calculated toner amount;

generating print data on the document according to the determined print saving mode; and

transmitting the generated print data to an image forming apparatus.

12. The print control method of claim 11, wherein the determining comprises comparing a calculated toner amount for each of the plurality of printing saving mode with a preset toner amount, and determining a print saving mode in which a difference between the preset toner amount and the calculated toner amount is at a minimum amount as a print saving mode to be applied for the document.

13. The print control method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of print saving modes comprise a first saving mode in which toner saving levels are differently set for objects included in the document.

14. The print control method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of print saving modes comprise a second print saving mode in which toner saving is not set for texts in the document, but toner saving is set for images or graphics in the documents.

15. The print control method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of print saving modes comprise a third print saving mode in which only boundary of images or graphics is printed.

16. The print control method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

receiving selection of a page to which the print saving mode is applied,

wherein the determining comprises calculating a toner amount by applying each of the plurality of print saving modes to the selected page, and determining a print saving mode to be applied to the document based on a calculated toner amount.

17. The print control method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

displaying a plurality of preview images to which each of the plurality of print saving modes is applied and a calculated toner amount,

wherein the determining comprises a print saving mode that corresponds to the selected preview image as a print saving mode, when one of the plurality of preview images is selected.

18. A print control method, comprising:

receiving a command to print a document;

calculating a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving mode applicable to the document and determining a print saving mode to be applied to the document based on the calculated toner amount;

generating print data on the document; and

transmitting the generated print data and information on the determined print saving mode to an image forming apparatus.

19. An image forming method, comprising:

receiving print data;

calculating a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving modes applicable to the document and determining a print saving mode to be applied to the print data based on the calculated toner amount; and

printing the received print data using the determined print saving mode.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a program to execute a print control method, wherein the print control method comprises:

receiving a command to print a document;

calculating a toner amount for each of a plurality of print saving modes applicable to the document and determining a print saving mode to be applied to the document based on the calculated toner amount;

generating print data on the document according to the determined print saving mode; and

transmitting the generated print data to an image forming apparatus