Image forming device and image forming method

Abstract

To accurately perform printing when performing blank page removal.SOLUTION: A printer includes: an editing processing unit that generates an editing processing page being an intermediate code from print data; a development processing unit that develops the editing processing page to generate a development processing page being image forming data; a print control unit that prints the development processing page output from the development processing unit on a sheet; and a control unit that selects an editing-development parallel processing of processing generation of the editing processing page by the editing processing unit and generation of the development processing page by the development processing unit in parallel when blank page removal is not performed in the print data, and selects editing-development sequential processing of performing generation of the editing processing page of the second page subsequent to the first page by the editing processing unit after generation of the development processing page of the first page by the development processing unit when the blank page removal is performed in the print data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method, and is suitable for use in, for example, an image forming apparatus that performs printing while removing blank pages. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there have been image forming apparatuses that allow users to specify blank pages to be removed during printing and remove the blank pages (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2006-92068 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in such an image forming apparatus, when removing blank pages, printing may not be performed accurately.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that are capable of printing accurately when blank pages are removed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve such problems, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is provided with an editing processing means for generating an intermediate code from print data, an expansion processing means for expanding the intermediate code and generating image formation data, a printing means for printing the image formation data output from the expansion processing means onto a medium, and a control means for selecting a first processing method in which the editing processing means generates an intermediate code and the expansion processing means generates image formation data in parallel when blank pages are not removed from the print data, while selecting a second processing method in which the editing processing means generates an intermediate code for a second page following the first page after the expansion processing means generates image formation data for the first page.

[0007] In addition, the image forming method of the present invention includes an edit processing step of generating an intermediate code from the print data, an expansion processing step of expanding the intermediate code to generate image formation data, a print step of printing the image formation data output in the expansion processing step on a medium, and a control step of selecting a first processing method in which the generation of the intermediate code by the edit processing step and the generation of the image formation data by the expansion processing step are processed in parallel when blank pages are not removed from the print data, while selecting a second processing method in which, when blank pages are removed from the print data, after the generation of the image formation data of the first page by the expansion processing step, the generation of the intermediate code of a second page following the first page is generated by the edit processing step.

[0008] Even if an intermediate code page is removed by blank page removal in the expansion process, the present invention can perform editing processing in response to the removal of the intermediate code page, according to the print settings of the front or back side of the paper on which the subsequent intermediate code page is placed. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, even if an intermediate code page is removed by blank page removal through expansion processing, editing processing can be performed in response to the removal of the intermediate code page, according to the print settings for the front or back side of the paper on which the subsequent intermediate code page is placed, thereby realizing an image forming apparatus and image forming method that can print accurately when blank pages are removed. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer. [Diagram 2] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating parallel edit development processing. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a sequential edit development process. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of print data 1. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of print data 2. [Figure 6] 13 is a flowchart showing a printing process procedure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0012] [1. Printer configuration] As shown in Fig. 1, the printer 1 is controlled as a whole by a control unit 2. The control unit 2 has a central processing unit (CPU), read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), etc. (not shown), and executes various processes by reading and executing predetermined programs. The printer 1 also receives print data from a higher-level device (not shown) and executes printing of the print data. The CPU is a microprocessor in which multiple processor cores are integrated into a single IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, and is capable of executing multiple processes in parallel.

[0013] The control unit 2 has, as internal modules, a receiving unit 10, an edit processing unit 12, a rendering processing unit 14, and a print control unit 16. The receiving unit 10 receives print data.

[0014] The edit processing unit 12 has a print data analysis unit 20 and an intermediate code generation unit 22. The print data analysis unit 20 is equipped with interpreters for a plurality of PDLs (Printer Description Languages), such as a PCLXL interpreter 24, a PCL5c interpreter 26, and a PostScript interpreter 28, and analyzes the print data received by the receiving unit 10 and interprets the print commands included in the print data. The PCLXL interpreter 24 performs PDL analysis processing of the print data when the PDL of the print data is PCLXL (PCL6). The PCL5c interpreter 26 performs PDL analysis processing of the print data when the PDL of the print data is PCL5c. The PostScript interpreter 28 performs PDL analysis processing of the print data when the print data is PostScript. The intermediate code generation unit 22 generates an intermediate code of the print data analyzed by the print data analysis unit 20.

[0015] The expansion processing unit 14 has an image forming unit 30. The image forming unit 30 performs expansion processing to render the intermediate code generated by the intermediate code generating unit 22, and forms image formation data. When performing blank page removal, if the page on which the expansion processing was performed has no drawing at all (i.e., is a blank page), the image forming unit 30 deletes the page so that it is not printed by the print control unit 16. The print control unit 16 transfers toner to actual paper based on the image formation data formed by the image forming unit 30 and performs printing.

[0016] [2. Editing and deployment process operations] The control unit 2 selects between parallel editing and development processing or sequential editing and development processing depending on the type of printer description language (i.e., type of PDL) of the print data and whether blank page removal is set to ON in the print data. Parallel editing and development processing is a processing method in which an editing process for generating an intermediate code by the intermediate code generation unit 22 of the edit processing unit 12 and a development process for forming image formation data from the intermediate code by the image formation unit 30 of the development processing unit 14 are processed in parallel. Sequential editing and development processing is a processing method in which, after the development process of one page of intermediate code by the image formation unit 30 of the development processing unit 14 is completed, the editing process of the next page is performed by the intermediate code generation unit 22 of the edit processing unit 12, that is, the editing process and development process are processed sequentially.

[0017] [2-1. Parallel processing of edit deployment] As shown in Fig. 2, the edit processing unit 12 has edit processing pages 34a, 34b, 34c, ..., 34n (hereinafter collectively referred to as edit processing pages 34) that have been converted into intermediate codes. The expansion processing unit 14 has expansion processing pages 36a, 36b, 36c, ..., 36n (hereinafter collectively referred to as expansion processing pages 36) that are image formation data obtained by rendering the edit processing pages 34a, 34b, 34c, ..., 34n, respectively. In Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, time progresses from top to bottom.

[0018] In the parallel edit / expansion process, which is a process in which the edit process and the expansion process are performed in parallel, the edit processing unit 12 generates an edit processing page 34, and when one page of the edit processing page 34 is generated, the edit processing unit 12 passes the edit processing page 34 to the expansion processing unit 14 and requests image formation. The expansion processing unit 14 performs image formation of the edit processing page 34 requested by the edit processing unit 12, and passes the expanded processing page 36 to the print control unit 16 to perform printing. When the print data includes multiple pages, the edit processing unit 12 generates a predetermined edit processing page 34 (e.g., edit processing page 34a), and when one page of the edit processing page 34 is generated, the edit processing unit 12 passes the edit processing page 34 to the expansion processing unit 14 and requests image formation, and generates the next edit processing page 34 (e.g., edit processing page 34b) without waiting for the completion of generation of the expanded processing page 36 in the expansion processing unit 14 (i.e., completion of image formation), and passes the edit processing page 34 to the expansion processing unit 14 and requests image formation.

[0019] In this parallel edit development processing, the development processing is executed by a predetermined microprocessor among the multiple processor cores in the CPU, and the edit processing is executed by a microprocessor among the multiple processor cores in the CPU that is different from the microprocessor that is executing the development processing.

[0020] In this way, in the parallel edit development processing, the printer 1 uses multiple (i.e., two) core processors to perform the edit processing and the development processing in parallel (i.e., simultaneously) in different core processors. Therefore, the printer 1 can reduce the time required to complete printing compared to the sequential edit development processing.

[0021] [2-2. Sequential editing and development processing] 3, in an edit processing sequential process in which an edit process and a development process are performed sequentially, the edit processing unit 12 generates an edit processing page 34, and when one page of edit processing page 34 is generated, the edit processing unit 12 passes the edit processing page 34 to the development processing unit 14 and requests image formation. The development processing unit 14 performs image formation of the edit processing page 34 requested by the edit processing unit 12, and passes a development processing page 36 to the print control unit 16 for printing. When the print data includes multiple pages, the edit processing unit 12 waits for the development processing unit 14 to complete generation (i.e., image formation) of the development processing page 36 (e.g., development processing page 36a), before generating the next edit processing page 34 (e.g., edit processing page 34b), and passes the edit processing page 34 to the development processing unit 14 and requests image formation. Here, when generating the edit processing page 34, the edit processing unit 12 inquires of the expansion processing unit 14 as to whether the edit processing page 34 currently being generated should be generated as a front or back page of the paper, and generates the edit processing page 34 according to the print settings for the front or back of the paper indicated by the response.

[0022] [3. Example of PJL data for printing data] 4 shows the language structure of print data 44 written in PJL (Printer Job Language) as an example of print data. The print data 44 includes, as PJL commands, a blank page removal setting PJL command 46 and a PDL type designation PJL command 48. In the print data 44, commands indicating information about the entire print data are written before the PDL type designation PJL command 48 (i.e., above the PDL type designation PJL command 48), and commands indicating information about each page are written after the PDL type designation PJL command 48 (i.e., below the PDL type designation PJL command 48).

[0023] The blank page removal setting PJL command 46 is a PJL command that indicates whether the blank page removal setting is turned ON or OFF, and in the case of the print data 44, it is a command such as "@PJL SET LPARM:PCL OKIWHITEPAGESKIP=ON." In the case of the blank page removal setting PJL command 46, as "=ON" is written at the end of the command, the print data 44 indicates that the blank page removal setting is ON.

[0024] Also, before the PDL type specification PJL command 48, a command (duplex printing setting command) such as "@PJL SET DUPLEX=ON" indicating whether to set duplex printing to ON or OFF may be written. In such a case, as "=ON" is written at the end of the command, the print data 44 indicates that duplex printing is set to ON. Although such a duplex printing setting command may be written before the PDL type specification PJL command 48, it may also be written in a command indicating information on each page after the PDL type specification PJL command 48, and in the latest case, the duplex printing setting command may be written in the command for the last page. When a duplex printing setting command is written in a command indicating information on each page after the PDL type specification PJL command 48, its ON / OFF takes precedence over the duplex printing setting command written before the PDL type specification PJL command 48. In other words, if double-sided printing is set to ON in the double-sided printing setting command in the command indicating information for each page after PDL type specification PJL command 48, double-sided printing will be performed on the print data even if double-sided printing is set to OFF in the double-sided printing setting command written before PDL type specification PJL command 48.

[0025] Also, some print data may not include the blank page removal setting PJL command 46. In such a case, the control unit 2 selects whether or not to perform blank page removal according to the print settings of the printer 1.

[0026] The PDL type specification PJL command 48 is a PJL command that indicates the type of PDL used for printing, and in the case of print data 44, it is a command such as "@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCLXL." In the case of the PDL type specification PJL command 48, as indicated by "=PCLXL" written at the end of the command, it indicates that the PDL type of print data 44 is PCLXL.

[0027] 5 shows the language structure of print data 50 written in PJL as another example of print data. The print data 50 includes, as PJL commands, a blank-page removal setting PJL command 52 and a PDL type specification PJL command 54 that correspond to the blank-page removal setting PJL command 46 and the PDL type specification PJL command 48 in the print data 44 (FIG. 4).

[0028] The blank page removal setting PJL command 52 for print data 50 is a command such as "@PJL SET LPARM:PCL OKIWHITEPAGESKIP=OFF." In the case of the blank page removal setting PJL command 52, as "=OFF" is written at the end of the command, the print data 50 indicates that the blank page removal setting is OFF.

[0029] In the case of print data 50, the PDL type specification PJL command 54 is a command such as "@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCLXL," just like in print data 44. In the case of PDL type specification PJL command 54, as "=PCLXL" is written at the end of the command, it indicates that the PDL type of print data 50 is PCLXL.

[0030] [4. Printing process] Next, the print processing procedure RT1 by the printer 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6. In step SP1, the control unit 2 receives print data from the receiving unit 10, transfers the print data from the receiving unit 10 to the print data analysis unit 20, and proceeds to step SP2. In step SP2, the control unit 2 checks the PDL type of the print data using the print data analysis unit 20, and determines whether the PDL type of the print data is PCLXL or PCL5c. Specifically, when the print data is print data 44 (FIG. 4), for example, the print data analysis unit 20 checks the PDL type designation PJL command 48 to determine that the PDL type of the print data 44 is PCLXL. If a positive result is obtained here, this indicates that the PDL type of the print data is PCLXL or PCL5c, and the control unit 2 proceeds to step SP3.

[0031] On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained in step SP2, this indicates that the PDL type of the print data is other than PCLXL or PCL5c, for example, PostScript, in which case the control section 2 skips step SP3 and proceeds to step SP4.

[0032] In step SP3, the control unit 2 checks the setting of blank page removal in the print data using the print data analysis unit 20, and determines whether the blank page removal in the print data is set to OFF or ON. Specifically, when the print data is print data 44 (FIG. 4), for example, the print data analysis unit 20 checks the blank page removal setting PJL command 46 to determine whether the blank page removal in the print data 44 is set to OFF or ON.

[0033] If blank page removal in the print data is set to OFF in step SP3, the control unit 2 proceeds to step SP4. In step SP4, the control unit 2 performs parallel editing and development processing, thereby performing parallel operations of editing processing and development processing, and then proceeds to step SP6, where the print processing procedure RT1 ends.

[0034] On the other hand, if blank page removal in the print data is set to ON in step SP3, the control unit 2 proceeds to step SP5. In step SP5, the control unit 2 performs sequential editing and development processing, performs sequential operations of editing processing and development processing, and proceeds to step SP6 to end the print processing procedure RT1.

[0035] [5. Effects, etc.] Incidentally, some PDL languages, such as PCLXL or PCL5c, allow you to set different coordinate systems for the front and back of a sheet of paper when printing on both sides. Specifically, the offset can be set by offsetting the front of the sheet by 1 cm to the right and the back of the sheet by 1 cm to the left. In such PDL languages, if it is not determined whether the page will be placed on the front or back of the sheet when printing on both sides, the output will not be correct.

[0036] In contrast, when parallel editing and development processing is performed on print data in which both double-sided printing and blank page removal are set to ON, editing processing of multiple pages proceeds in advance without waiting for completion of development processing. In this case, if a page before the edit processing page 34 for which editing processing has been completed is removed by blank page removal in the development processing, the edit processing page 34 may be placed on a surface different from the surface on which it was originally intended to be placed. In other words, in the case of print data in which both double-sided printing and blank page removal are set to ON, the surface on which the page following the page removed by blank page removal in the development processing is placed may change from the surface assumed when the edit processing page 34 was generated in the editing processing. In such a case, incorrect printing different from the print instructions specified by the user may be performed.

[0037] In response to this, when blank page removal is set to OFF in the print data, the printer 1 selects parallel editing and development processing in which the edit processing unit 12 generates the edit processing page 34 and the development processing unit 14 generates the development processing page 36 in parallel, thereby improving the processing speed compared to the sequential editing and development processing. On the other hand, when blank page removal is set to ON in the print data, the printer 1 selects sequential editing and development processing in which the edit processing unit 12 generates the next edit processing page 34 after the development processing unit 14 generates the development processing page 36. In other words, the printer 1 does not perform the editing process and generate multiple pages of edit processing pages 34 without waiting for the completion of the development process, but starts generating the next one page of edit processing page 34 after the development process for one page of edit processing page 34 is completed. In other words, even if the printer 1 is preset to normally perform parallel editing and development processing, when blank page removal is set to ON in the print data, the printer 1 changes from parallel editing and development processing to sequential editing and development processing.

[0038] Therefore, even if the edit processing page 34 is removed by blank page removal during the expansion process, the printer 1 can perform edit processing in response to the removal of the edit processing page 34, according to the print settings for the front or back side of the paper on which the subsequent edit processing page 34 is placed.

[0039] As a result, when both double-sided printing and blank page removal are set to ON, printer 1 can print according to the print instructions specified by the user, without forcing the user to go through the trouble of changing print settings, even if the time required for printing is longer than in the case of parallel editing and development processing.

[0040] Here, even if blank page removal is set to ON, when double-sided printing is set to OFF, all of the rendering processing pages 36 are arranged on the front side of the paper, so even if editing and rendering parallel processing is performed, the printer 1 can print according to the print instruction without any problem. However, as described above in the print data 44 (FIG. 4), in the latest case, the double-sided printing setting command may be written in the command of the last page, so if it is not possible to decide whether to select editing and rendering sequential processing or editing and rendering parallel processing until the double-sided printing setting command is confirmed, it may take time to start the editing and rendering processing, and the processing time may be long. For this reason, the printer 1 checks the blank page removal setting PJL command 46 written above the PDL type specification PJL command 48 (FIG. 4) as soon as the print data begins without checking the double-sided printing setting, and selects editing and rendering sequential processing only by recognizing that blank page removal is set to ON.

[0041] According to the above configuration, the printer 1 is provided with an edit processing unit 12 that generates an edit processing page 34, which is an intermediate code, from the print data, an expansion processing unit 14 that expands the edit processing page 34 to generate an expansion processing page 36, which is image formation data, a print control unit 16 that prints the expansion processing page 36 output from the expansion processing unit 14 on paper as a medium, and a control unit 2 that selects edit expansion parallel processing as a first processing method for causing the edit processing unit 12 to generate the edit processing page 34 and the expansion processing unit 14 to generate the expansion processing page 36 in parallel when blank pages are not removed from the print data, while selecting edit expansion sequential processing as a second processing method for causing the edit processing unit 12 to generate the expansion processing page 36 of the second page following the first page after the expansion processing unit 14 has generated the expansion processing page 36 of the first page.

[0042] As a result, even if the edit processing page 34 is removed by blank page removal during the expansion process, the printer 1 can perform edit processing in response to the removal of the edit processing page 34, according to the print settings for the front or back side of the paper on which the subsequent edit processing page 34 is placed.

[0043] [6. Other embodiments] In the above embodiment, the printer 1 selects the edit development sequential processing when the blank page removal is set to ON. The present invention is not limited to this. The printer 1 may select the edit development sequential processing when the blank page removal is set to ON and the double-sided printing is set to ON, and may select the edit development parallel processing when at least one of the blank page removal and the double-sided printing is set to OFF. In this case, as described above in the print data 44 (FIG. 4), the double-sided printing setting command may be written in the command of the last page in the slowest case, so that the time required to start the edit processing and the development processing may be long. However, when at least one of the blank page removal and the double-sided printing is set to OFF and the edit development sequential processing is not required, the printer 1 can perform the edit development parallel processing without performing the edit development sequential processing.

[0044] In the above embodiment, the printer 1 has been described as selecting edit development sequential processing when the PDL type of the print data is PCLXL or PCL5c and blank page removal is set to ON. The present invention is not limited to this, and the printer 1 may select edit development sequential processing when the PDL type of the print data is various other types that allow different print settings for the front and back sides during double-sided printing and blank page removal is set to ON.

[0045] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the printer 1 has been described as switching between parallel edit development processing and sequential edit development processing depending on the ON / OFF setting of blank page removal. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the printer 1 may also switch between parallel edit development processing and sequential edit development processing depending on the ON / OFF settings of various other printing functions that may result in the edit processing page 34 generated in the edit processing being placed on a side other than the front or back side on which it was originally intended to be placed due to the addition or deletion of a specific edit processing page 34 in the development processing.

[0046] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment and other embodiments. That is, the scope of application of the present invention extends to an embodiment in which the above-mentioned embodiment and the other embodiments are combined in part or in whole in any manner. The scope of application of the present invention also extends to an embodiment in which a part of the configuration described in any of the above-mentioned embodiment and other embodiments is extracted and replaced or diverted with a part of the configuration of any of the above-mentioned embodiment and other embodiments, or an embodiment in which a part of the extracted configuration is added to any of the embodiments.

[0047] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the printer 1 as an image forming apparatus is configured by the edit processing unit 12 as edit processing means, the expansion processing unit 14 as expansion processing means, the print control unit 16 as print means, and the control unit 2 as control means. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the image forming apparatus may be configured by edit processing means, expansion processing means, print means, and control means having various other configurations. [Industrial Applicability]

[0048] The present invention can be used when printing is performed while removing blank pages. [Explanation of symbols]

[0049] 1...printer, 2...control unit, 10...receiving unit, 12...editing processing unit, 14...expansion processing unit, 16...printing control unit, 20...print data analysis unit, 22...intermediate code generation unit, 24...PCLXL interpreter, 26...PCL5c interpreter, 28...PostScript interpreter, 30...image formation unit, 34...editing processing page, 36...expansion processing page, 44...print data, 46...blank page removal setting PJL command, 48...PDL type specification PJL command, 50...print data, 52...blank page removal setting PJL command, 54...PDL type specification PJL command.

Claims

1. An editing processing means for generating an intermediate code from the print data; a decompression processing means for decompressing the intermediate code and generating image formation data; a printing means for printing the image formation data output from the expansion processing means on a medium; a control means for selecting a first processing method for causing the editing means to generate the intermediate code and the development means to generate the image formation data in parallel when blank pages are not removed from the print data, and for selecting a second processing method for causing the editing means to generate the intermediate code for a second page subsequent to the first page after the development means has generated the image formation data for a first page; An image forming apparatus comprising:

2. The print data is written in a page description language that allows different print settings for the front and back sides of the medium.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

3. The print data is written in PCLXL or PCL5c.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2,

4. The control means If the print data is written in a format other than PCLXL or PCL5c, or if the blank page removal is not performed, the first processing method is selected, whereas if the print data is written in PCLXL or PCL5c and the blank page removal is performed, the second processing method is selected.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3.

5. The control means When at least one of double-sided printing and blank page removal is not performed in the print data, the first processing method is selected, whereas when double-sided printing and blank page removal are performed in the print data, the second processing method is selected.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

6. an editing process step for generating an intermediate code from the print data; a decompression processing step of decompressing the intermediate code to generate image formation data; a printing step of printing the image formation data outputted in the expansion processing step on a medium; a control step of selecting a first processing method for processing the generation of the intermediate code by the editing processing step and the generation of the image formation data by the expansion processing step in parallel when blank pages are not removed from the print data, and selecting a second processing method for generating the intermediate code of a second page subsequent to the first page by the editing processing step after the generation of the image formation data of a first page by the expansion processing step when blank pages are removed from the print data; An image forming method comprising the steps of:

Images