Print control apparatus, and print control method for selectively rasterizing print data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10019661-B2
Application number	US-201615177200-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2016
Priority date	Jun 26, 2015
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

A print control apparatus includes a print controller including one or more processors and at least one memory. The print controller functions as a receiving unit to receive, from an external device, a print job that includes a plurality of ordered document files, a print page range indicating sequential target pages, an initial page in the sequential target pages corresponding to a print start page in one of the plurality of ordered document files, and a last page in the sequential target pages corresponding to a print end page in another one of the plurality of ordered document files, and a rasterizing unit to selectively rasterize pages of the received print job based on the print page range, so that the sequential target pages, including at least (i) pages between the print start page and a last page of the one document file and (ii) pages between a first page and the print end page of the other one document file, are rasterized, and the pages other than the sequential target pages are not rasterized. The sequential target pages are printed and the pages of the print job other than the sequential target pages are not printed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A print control apparatus comprising:
a print controller including one or more processors and at least one memory, the print controller functioning as:
a receiving unit configured to receive, from an external device, a print job that includes a plurality of ordered document files, and a print page range indicating sequential target pages, an initial page in the sequential target pages corresponding to a print start page in one of the plurality of ordered document files, and a last page in the sequential target pages corresponding to a print end page in another one of the plurality of ordered document files; and
a rasterizing unit configured to selectively rasterize pages of the received print job based on the print page range, so that the sequential target pages, including at least (i) pages between the print start page and a last page of the one document file and (ii) pages between a first page and the print end page of the other one document file, are rasterized, and the pages other than the sequential target pages are not rasterized, wherein the sequential target pages are printed and the pages of the print job other than the sequential target pages are not printed.

2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein, based on the print page range, the rasterizing unit (i) does not rasterize pages from a first page to a page that immediately precedes the page corresponding to the print start page of the one document file, (ii) rasterizes the pages between the print start page and the last page of the one document file, (iii) rasterizes the pages between the first page and the print end page of the other one document file, and (iv) does not rasterize pages from a page that immediately succeeds the print end page and a last page of the other one document file.

3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, based on the print page range, the rasterizing unit does not rasterize pages of the print job before that precede the print start page, (ii) rasterizes the sequential target pages, and (iii) does not rasterize pages of the print job that succeed the print end page.

4. The print control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the print controller further functions as an analyzing unit configured to analyze a page of a document file, of the plurality of ordered document files,
wherein the analyzing unit (i) analyzes the pages of the print job that precede the print start page and the sequential target pages, and (ii) does not analyze the pages of the print job that succeed the print end page.

5. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the print controller further functions as:
a generating unit configured to generate, for each of the plurality of ordered document files, a second print page range for the document file based on (i) the print page range, and (ii) a total number of pages of all document files that precede the document file in the plurality of ordered document files, and
wherein the rasterizing unit specifies, for each document file of the plurality of ordered document files, pages of the document file according to the generated second print page range for the document file and rasterizes the specified pages of the document file.

6. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a printer engine,
wherein the print controller further functions as:
a specifying unit configured, based on the print page range, to specify pages to be printed in one or more document files, of the plurality of ordered document files, that include pages corresponding to the print page range;
a control unit configured to control the rasterizing unit to rasterize a page specified to be printed by the specifying unit among pages included in the one or more document files, and to control the printer engine to print the rasterized page; and
a determination unit configured to determine whether or not to rasterize a document file, of the plurality of ordered document files, that succeeds another document file, based on a number of pages that are specified to be printed by the specifying unit among pages included in the other document file that precedes the document file.

7. The print control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein, based on (i) the received print page range, (ii) the number of pages that are specified to be printed in the other document file that precedes the document file, and (iii) a total number of pages included in the document file that precedes the subsequent document file, the specifying unit obtains a second print page range in units of document files for the document file, and specifies a page corresponding to the second print page range in units of document files as a page to be printed in the document file,
wherein the determination unit determines whether or not to rasterize the document file based on the obtained second print page range in units of document files.

8. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of ordered document files is described in PDL (Page Description Language).

9. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the print page range is set in the print job.

10. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a setting unit configured to set the print page range.

11. The print control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein, if the determination unit determines that the document file is not rasterized, the control unit discards data of the document file without making the determination.

12. The print control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the specifying unit obtains (i) document files, of the plurality of ordered document files, having pages included in the print page range included in the print job, and (ii) a document file print start page and a document file print end page for each of the document files to specify the print page range.

13. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case that the print page range includes pages of at least three document files, of the plurality of ordered document files, the print page range is specified by (i) determining the one document file including the print start the other one document file including the print end page, and document files for which the entire document file is included in the print page range, and (ii) obtaining a document file print start page and a document file print end page for each of the one document file, the other one document file, and one or more document files that succeed the one document file and precede the other one document file in the plurality of ordered document files.

14. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the receiving unit receives the print job in which the print page range is not individually specified for each document file of the plurality of ordered document files.

15. The print control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, if an intermediate document file is included between the one document file and the other one document file, of the plurality of ordered document files, in the print job, the rasterizing unit is configured to rasterize, based on the print page range of the initial document file and the print end page of the subsequent document file, all pages of the intermediate document file, and
wherein the sequential target pages include all of the pages of the intermediate document file.

16. A print control method comprising:
receiving, from an external device, a print job that includes a plurality of ordered document files, a print page range indicat

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Kaneda Takeshi

Classifications

• G06K15/181

  Receiving print data characterized by its formatting, e.g. particular page description languages · CPC title

• G06F3/1285

  Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server · CPC title

• G06K2215/0011

  characterised by a particular command or data flow, e.g. Page Description Language, configuration commands · CPC title

• G06F3/1247

  by conversion to printer ready format · CPC title

• G06F3/1253

  Configuration of print job parameters, e.g. using UI at the client · CPC title