JP2003296076A - Device and method for controlling distributed printing and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform distributed printing in a short time with high workability. <P>SOLUTION: First, intermediate print data are prepared (1), then rendering processing is applied by parallel processing in time-division manner so that page data in the first page of the intermediate print data can be successively suited with respective printers 60-80 (2, 3 and 4). Processing for transmitting the final print data converted for the printer 60 to the printer 60 is performed in parallel with rendering processing for the next printer 70, and similarly, processing for transmitting the data to the printer 70 and to the printer 80 is performed in parallel with next rendering processing. Next, rendering processing is applied by parallel processing so that the page data in the second page of the intermediate print data can be successively suited with the printers 60-80 (5, 6 and 7) and continuously, rendering processing is applied by parallel processing so that the page data in the third page of the intermediate print data can be successively suited with the printers 60-80. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for distributing print data to be printed to a plurality of printers and outputting it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a document is created by an information processing device such as a personal computer or a word processor, the created document is output to a printer. Usually, the printer is directly connected to the information processing device. Further, the printer may be indirectly connected to the information processing device by a computer network such as a LAN (Local Area Network). Normally, a plurality of printers are connected to the computer network, and the information processing apparatus shares these so that any printer can print. The operator designates a desired printer from a plurality of printers connected to the network by the information processing apparatus and outputs the document data to be printed to the printer.

By the way, in a configuration in which a plurality of printers are connected to such one information processing apparatus, print data created by the information processing apparatus can be distributed to the printers and output. If there is a large amount of print data, 1
It takes a long time to complete printing with one printer, but if you print the print data separately to multiple printers,
The time required for printing can be shortened.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, it is necessary for the worker to appropriately divide the document to be printed and make a print request individually to a plurality of printers. For this reason, the work becomes very complicated and the workability is poor, and the time required for printing cannot be shortened sufficiently.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to enable distributed printing in a short time with good workability.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problem and Its Action / Effect] As a means for solving at least a part of the above-mentioned problems, the following constitution is adopted.

The first distributed printing control device of the present invention divides the printing data to be printed into page units, and defines the page to be accepted by each of the plurality of printers; A distributed printing control device comprising: a data output control means for distributed output to each printer according to information determined by the allocation means, and capable of printing a plurality of copies of the print data as necessary, wherein the data allocation means , Each page is arranged page by page in units of copies, all pages for the number of copies are divided into the number of distribution destination printers, and each of the divided printers is assigned to the plurality of printers. The data output control means performs distributed output of the print data substantially in parallel to each printer, and
Each distributed output is configured to output the print data after performing a process of converting the print data of each page into a form suitable for the distribution destination printer in order from the allocated first page. It is characterized by being.

According to the distributed printing control apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration, since the data allocating means determines which printer receives each page unit of the print data, the worker individually makes a print request to the destination printer. There is no need to do it. Therefore, it is excellent in workability. Further, in this distributed printing control device, the distributed output of the print data is performed substantially in parallel to the respective printers, and the distributed output of the print data of each page is performed in order from the allocated first page. The print data is output after being converted into a format that conforms to.

Therefore, the process for obtaining the print data suitable for the printer is performed for the first page addressed to the first printer, then for the first page addressed to the second printer, and then for the third device. The first page can be done in the order of the printers, such as for the first page for the eye printer. At this time, while processing the first page addressed to the second printer, the print data obtained as a result of processing the first page addressed to the first printer is output to the printer. In addition, the process of obtaining print data suitable for the printer and the process of outputting the previous print data to the printer can be executed in parallel. Therefore, there is an effect that the entire time required for printing can be shortened as compared with the conventional example.

In the distributed printing control apparatus having the above structure, a virtual printer driver storing means for storing a virtual printer driver that defines information about a virtual printer corresponding to the plurality of printers, and the virtual printer driver are provided. An intermediate print data generation unit that obtains intermediate print data suitable for the virtual printer from an application program that generates data that is a source of the print data by executing the obtained intermediate print data. The print data may be used by the data allocation unit and the data output control unit.

According to the distributed print control device having the virtual printer driver, the intermediate print data can be obtained from the application program by issuing only one print command to the virtual printer driver. Distributed printing from the intermediate print data to each printer is automatically performed. For this reason, the worker only needs to perform the printing work once on the application program, and has an effect of excellent workability.

The second distributed printing control apparatus of the present invention divides the printing data to be printed into page units, and determines the page to be accepted by each of the plurality of printers; A distributed printing control device comprising: a data output control means for distributed output to each printer in accordance with information determined by the allocation means; and a printer speed performance detection means for respectively detecting the performance of the printing speed of each printer, The data allocating means is configured such that the number of pages to be allocated to each printer is determined according to the printing speed performance of each printer detected by the printer speed performance detecting means. .

According to the second distributed printing control device having this structure, the printer assigning each page unit of the print data to the printer is determined by the data allocating means. There is no need to make a print request. Therefore, it is excellent in workability. In addition, in this distributed printing control device, since the number of pages accepted by each of the plurality of printers is determined according to the performance information of the printing speed of the printer, a large number of pages are printed for the printer having high printing speed performance. It is possible to print and print a small number of pages for a printer with low print speed performance. Therefore, it is possible for each printer to finish printing almost at the same time. Therefore, there is an effect that the total time required for printing can be shortened.

In the second distributed printing control device, an input window is displayed on the display device, and
A distributed information setting means for setting various kinds of information about the distribution of the print data based on input data from the input device; and the data allocation means, based on the various information set by the distributed information setting means, The distributed information setting unit is configured to determine a page to be received by each of the plurality of printers, and the distributed information setting unit further generates an illustration image in which print media are arranged corresponding to the information determined by the data allocation unit from the various information. A display control means for displaying on the display device may be provided.

According to this configuration, when setting various kinds of information about the dispersion from the input window, the worker
By viewing the illustration image displayed by the display control means, it is possible to know in what distributed form the distributed printing is performed. Therefore, it is possible to visually know how the dispersion is performed before the distributed printing is performed, and thus the workability is further improved.

The third distributed printing control apparatus of the present invention divides the print data to be printed into page units, and defines the page to be accepted by each of the plurality of printers, and the print data, What is claimed is: 1. A distributed printing control device comprising: a data output control means for performing distributed output to each printer according to information determined by the allocation means, wherein the data allocation means is a set of units in which the number of pages to be allocated to each printer is a unit for consolidating the pages. Is configured to fit in the same printer.

According to the third distributed printing control device having this structure, the printer assigning each page unit of the print data to the printer is determined by the data allocating means, so that the worker individually assigns to the destination printer. There is no need to make a print request. Therefore, it is excellent in workability. Further, in this distributed printing control device, the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is determined so that a set of units for grouping pages fits in the same printer. When this happens, the print result is in a state in which the units for grouping the above pages are collected. Therefore, there is an effect that the workability in collecting the print result is excellent.

In the third distributed printing control device, a printer speed performance detecting means for detecting the performance of each printer with respect to the printing speed is provided, and the data allocating means receives a predetermined first command from the outside. When input, the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is determined so that a set of units for grouping pages fits in the same printer, and is assigned to each printer when the first command is not input. The number of pages may be configured to be determined according to the printing speed performance of each printer detected by the printer speed performance detecting means.

According to this configuration, when the first command is input, the workability in collecting the print result is excellent. On the other hand, when the first command is not input,
As described above, it is possible to reduce the total time required for printing by causing each printer to finish printing almost at the same time. Therefore, depending on whether or not the first command is input, it is possible to easily switch between speed priority and print result collection (handling priority). Therefore, the operability is excellent.

In the distributed printing control device that facilitates switching between speed priority and handling priority, the first
Command is input, and a predetermined second command is input from the outside, the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is prohibited while one set of pages is prohibited from passing to different printers. It may be configured so as to be determined according to the performance of the printing speed of each printer detected by the printer speed performance detecting means.

According to this configuration, when both the first command and the second command are input, the speed priority can be achieved while the handling priority is given.

In the third distributed printing control device, the data allocating unit prints a set of units for grouping the pages in a unit of printing unit or the same unit in accordance with a third command inputted from the outside. It may be configured to include a unit setting unit that is determined by switching to a unit of page order.

According to this structure, a set of units for grouping pages in accordance with the third command inputted from the outside,
It is possible to switch to the unit of print copy or the unit of the same page order.

In the third distributed printing control device, a distributed information setting means for displaying an input window on the display device and setting various information about the distribution of the print data based on the input data from the input device. Prepare,
The data allocation unit is configured to determine a page accepted by each of the plurality of printers based on various information set by the distributed information setting unit, and the distributed information setting unit further includes the data allocation unit. It is possible to have a configuration including a display control unit that generates an illustration image in which print media are arranged corresponding to the information defined by the above-described various information and displays it on the display device.

According to this structure, when setting various kinds of information about the dispersion from the input window, the worker
By viewing the illustration image displayed by the display control means, it is possible to know in what distributed form the distributed printing is performed. Therefore, it is possible to visually know how the dispersion is performed before the distributed printing is performed, and thus the workability is further improved.

The first distributed printing control method of the present invention is
(A) dividing print data to be printed on a page-by-page basis and determining a page accepted by each of a plurality of printers; and (b) distributing the print data to each printer according to the information determined by the data allocating means. And a step of outputting the print data, wherein the print data can be printed in a plurality of copies as needed, wherein the step (a) arranges each page in a page order in units of copies. All pages of the printer are divided into the number of destination printers, and each of the divided printers is assigned to the plurality of printers. The step (b) is for the distributed output of the print data. Are performed substantially in parallel for each printer, and each distributed output is printed in order from the assigned first page. Is characterized in that after having performed processing for converting the data into shape conforming to the distribution destination printers are those that are configured to perform the output of the print data.

The first distributed printing control method having the above construction has the same operation and effect as the first distributed printing control device of the above invention, and improves workability and shortens the time required for distributed printing. It is possible to perform distributed printing while achieving both.

A second distributed printing control method of the present invention is
(A) dividing print data to be printed on a page-by-page basis and determining a page accepted by each of a plurality of printers; and (b) distributing the print data to each printer according to information determined by the data allocating means. A distributed printing control method capable of printing a plurality of copies of the print data as needed, and further comprising (c) detecting the performance of each printer with respect to printing speed. At the same time, the step (a) is configured such that the number of pages allocated to each printer is determined according to the printing speed performance of each printer detected in the step (c). I am trying.

The second distributed printing control method having the above construction has the same operation and effect as the second distributed printing control apparatus of the above invention, and improves workability and shortens the time required for distributed printing. It is possible to perform distributed printing while achieving both.

A third distributed printing control method of the present invention is
(A) dividing print data to be printed on a page-by-page basis and determining a page accepted by each of a plurality of printers; and (b) distributing the print data to each printer according to information determined by the data allocating means. And a step of outputting, wherein in step (a), the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is determined so that a set of units for grouping pages fits in the same printer. It is characterized by being.

The third distributed printing control method having the above-described structure has the same operation and effect as the third distributed printing control device of the above-mentioned invention. It is possible to perform distributed printing while improving the property.

A first recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program used in a distributed printing control device for distributed printing of print data to be printed on a plurality of printers.
(A) a function of classifying print data to be printed on a page-by-page basis and defining a page accepted by each of a plurality of printers; and (b) a function of (a)
The computer realizes the function of distributed output to each printer according to the information defined by the above, and the function (a) arranges each page in the order of pages by copy,
All the pages for the number of copies are divided into the number of distribution destination printers, and each of the divided printers is assigned to the plurality of printers. The function (b)
Performs the distributed output of the print data to the respective printers substantially in parallel, and the distributed output converts the print data of each page into a form suitable for the destination printers in order from the allocated first page. It is characterized in that a computer program, which is configured to output the print data after performing the processing, is recorded.

The first recording medium having the above-described structure also has the same operations and effects as the first distributed printing control apparatus and the first distributed printing control method of the present invention, improving workability and distributed printing. It is possible to perform distributed printing while achieving a reduction in the time required for printing.

A second recording medium according to the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium in which a computer program used in a distributed printing control device for distributedly printing print data to be printed on a plurality of printers is recorded.
(A) a function of classifying print data to be printed on a page-by-page basis and defining a page accepted by each of a plurality of printers; and (b) a function of (a)
The computer realizes the function of distributed output to each printer according to the information determined by (c) and the function of detecting the printing speed performance of each printer, and the function (a) is a page assigned to each printer. Is stored in the computer program, which is configured to be determined according to the performance of the printing speed of each printer detected by the printer speed performance detecting means.

The second recording medium having the above-described structure also has the same operation and effect as the second distributed printing control apparatus and the second distributed printing control method of the present invention, improving workability and distributed printing. It is possible to perform distributed printing while achieving a reduction in the time required for printing.

A third recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program used in a distributed printing control device for distributed printing of print data to be printed on a plurality of printers.
(A) a function of classifying print data to be printed on a page-by-page basis and defining a page accepted by each of a plurality of printers; and (b) a function of (a)
The computer further realizes the function of distributed output to each printer according to the information defined by the above, and in the function (a), the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is such that a set of units for grouping pages fits in the same printer. It is characterized in that a computer program having a configuration defined as described above is recorded.

The third recording medium having the above structure also has the same operation and effect as the third distributed printing control device and the third distributed printing control method of the present invention, and improves workability, especially printing. It is possible to perform distributed printing while improving workability when collecting results.

[0038]

Other Embodiments of the Invention The present invention also includes the following other embodiments. A first aspect thereof is a computer program having the same function as the function of the recording medium of the present invention. The second aspect is an aspect as a data signal embodied in a carrier wave by including the computer program. A third aspect is an aspect as a program supply device that supplies a computer program through a communication path. In the third aspect, the computer program is placed in a server or the like on a computer network, the necessary program is downloaded to a computer via a communication path, and the computer is executed to realize the above-described device or method. You can

[0039]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In order to further clarify the structure and operation of the present invention described above, the embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on Examples.

1. Overall Hardware Configuration FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic hardware configuration of a computer system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in the figure, the computer system of this embodiment includes a computer 10.
A plurality of printers 70, 80, ... Having substantially computer functions are connected to 0 via a computer network 90 constructed by a local area network (LAN). It should be noted that the computer network 90 may be replaced by a LAN, the Internet,
Intranet and wide area network (WA
N) and other various networks can be used.

A CRT display 12 as a peripheral device is connected to the computer 10, and further another printer 60 is locally connected. Also,
The computer 10 includes a computer main body 16, a keyboard 18, and a mouse 20. This computer body 1
A floppy disk drive 24 for reading the contents of the floppy disk 22 is mounted on the disk drive 6.

The computer main body 16 has a CPU 30, which serves as a central processing unit, as a center, and a ROM 31, a RAM 32, a display image memory 33, a mouse interface 34, and a keyboard interface 3 which are interconnected by a bus.
5, FDC 36, HDC 37, CRTC 38, printer interface 39 and network control circuit 40.

The ROM 31 is a read-only memory that stores therein various programs and the like. RAM
Reference numeral 32 is a readable / writable memory that stores various data. The display image memory 33 is a memory that stores image data of an image displayed on the CRT display 12. The mouse interface 34 is an interface that controls the exchange of data and the like with the mouse 20. The keyboard interface 35 is an interface that controls key input from the keyboard 18. The FDC 36 is a floppy disk controller that controls the floppy disk drive (FDD) 24. HDC37 is
A hard disk controller that controls a hard disk drive (HDD) 41. The CRTC 38 is a CRT controller that controls the display of an image on the CRT display 12 based on the display image data stored in the display image memory 33. Printer interface 3
An interface 9 controls the output of data to the locally connected printer 14. The network control circuit 40 includes a network card and the like, and is connected to the computer network 90.

In this computer system, the operating system is stored in the HDD 41, and when the computer main body 16 is powered on, the RAM 32 follows the loader written in the boot block of the HDD 41.
Is loaded into a predetermined area of. In addition, the printers 60, 7
The actual printer driver prepared for each 0,80 model is
It is stored in the floppy disk 22 in advance, and is installed in the computer 10 from the floppy disk drive 24 by starting a predetermined installation program. The installed printer driver is stored in the HDD 41, incorporated into the operating system and loaded into a predetermined area of the RAM 32 when the computer 10 is powered on.

Further, this computer system is provided with a virtual printer driver (virtual printer driver) 110 that defines information about a virtual printer. Like the actual printer driver, the virtual printer driver 110 is stored in advance in the floppy disk 22 and is installed in the computer 10 from the floppy disk drive 24 by starting a predetermined installation program. The installed virtual printer driver 110 is stored in the HDD 41, is incorporated in the operating system when the computer 10 is powered on, and is stored in the RAM 3
2 is loaded into a predetermined area. The computer program of the virtual printer driver 110 is replaced with the computer program stored in the floppy disk 22 and the CD-RO is used.
It may be configured to be stored in another portable recording medium (portable recording medium) such as M, a magneto-optical disk, or an IC card.
In addition, this computer program downloads program data provided via a computer network from a specific server connected to an external computer network (for example, the Internet), and R
It can be obtained by transferring to the AM 32 or the HDD 41.

The printers 60, 70, and 80 are so-called laser printers that apply a laser beam to a photosensitive drum to form a latent image, develop the latent image with toner, and transfer the latent image to a sheet. The printers 60, 70, 80 are inkjet printers,
Various printers such as a thermal transfer printer can be applied. In this case, the printers 60, 70, 80 are
It is assumed that they are different models.

2. State of Distributed Printing Process According to the computer system having such a configuration, roughly, the computer main body 16 creates print data to be printed, and the print data is connected to the printers 60, 70, 80. A distributed printing process is performed to disperse and print the data. The state of such distributed printing processing will be described in detail below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall state of the distributed printing process. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a processing state of the virtual printer driver 110 used in the distributed printing processing. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a processing state of a distributed printing utility program (hereinafter, simply referred to as “distributed printing utility”) 120 that realizes a part of the distributed printing processing.

As shown in FIG. 2, the computer main body 16
Application program running inside 10
0 performs image processing to generate image data, and issues a print command to print this image data. When a print command is issued from the application program 100,
The virtual printer driver 110 receives the print command and returns performance information about the performance of the virtual printer assumed by the virtual printer driver 110 to the application program 100. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the virtual printer driver 110 causes the print command receiving unit 111 to receive a print command issued from the application program 100, and to notify that the print command is received. The performance information reply unit 112 received from 111 returns performance information about the performance of the virtual printer to the application program 100.

Here, the performance of the virtual printer is the performance of the printer with the highest performance of all the printers that can be the distribution destinations. Generally, a high-performance printer draws in a high-level programming language. For example, it is a high-level programming language that expresses a figure by an advanced drawing command using mathematical formulas,
It is a low-level programming language that represents a figure by a drawing command with a low degree using a bitmap. Therefore, in this embodiment, the performance of the virtual printer is determined as the performance of the highest printer among all the printers that can be the distribution destinations as described above, and the virtual printer driver 110 follows the high-level programming language. Data conversion processing (rendering processing) is possible. That is, since the high-level programming language uses advanced drawing commands as described above, the virtual printer driver 110 should be able to realize efficient rendering processing according to the highest performance printer. ing.

The printers that can be distributed are printers belonging to the printer group set by the property setting unit 113 among all the printers locally or network-connected to the computer main body 16. Printers 60, 70, 80
Shall be applicable.

In detail, the printers 60, 70, 80
Distributed printer utility 12 from the printer driver (hereinafter referred to as the actual printer driver) prepared for each model of
The performance information input unit 114 captures the performance information of each printer 60, 70, 80 captured by 0, and the virtual printer performance determination unit 115 captures the performance information of each printer 60,
The highest performance information is selected from the performance information 70 and 80, and this is used as virtual printer performance information. The performance information return unit 112 returns the performance information of this virtual printer to the application program 100.

Incidentally, such a virtual printer driver 11
The performance information defined by 0 is replaced with the printer 6 having the highest performance as in this embodiment.
It may be any one selected from the performance information of 0, 70 and 80. Furthermore, each printer 60, 70, 80
The performance information may be predetermined performance information that does not depend on the performance information of 1.

Further, the virtual printer driver 110 allows the user interface 1 to be set by the property setting section 113.
16 is operated to set and store various kinds of information for printing, and some information of the various kinds of information for printing is returned to the application program 100 via the performance information returning unit 112 together with the performance information. . Various information for printing includes basic print settings such as print quality, color correction, and halftone type, paper settings such as paper size and print direction, and printers that specify printers that can be distributed. There are information about groups, information about distribution forms in distributed printing, and the like. Here, information except for information about printer groups and distribution forms among these information is sent to the application program 100.

The application program 100 receives performance information and such information, converts the generated image data into print data suitable for a printer (here, a virtual printer) based on the performance information and these information, The virtual printer driver 1 uses the converted print data.
Send to 10. This print data conversion processing realizes efficient rendering processing as described above, and the color conversion processing and halftone processing realized by the actual printer driver are not executed here.

As shown in FIG. 2, the virtual printer driver 110 temporarily uses the print data sent from the application program 100 as intermediate print data, and temporarily stores the data set including the intermediate print data in the HDD 41 as an intermediate print file MF. Store. For details, see FIG.
As shown in, the print data received from the application program 100 is received by the print data receiving unit 117, and then the print data is used as the intermediate print data, and a data set in which the intermediate print data is collected is
It is output to the HDD 41 by the intermediate print data output unit 118. The intermediate print data of the intermediate print file MF is then read by the distributed print utility 120. The intermediate print file MF may be stored in the RAM 32 instead of the HDD 41, or may be stored in the floppy disk 22, or may be another external storage device. The virtual printer driver 110 also includes a property setting unit 113.
A process of sending the various information set in step 1 to the distributed printing utility 120 via the property data output unit 119 as printer property data is also performed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the distributed printing utility 120 receives the intermediate print data and the printer property data which form the intermediate print file MF, and distributes the intermediate print data to the printer group included in the printer property data and the distributed printer data. Distributing for each printer 60, 70, 80 according to the morphological information, each printer 6
It is sent to the actual printer drivers 130, 140, 150 provided corresponding to 0, 70, 80. Such processing by the distributed printing utility 120 will be described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the distributed printing utility 120, first, the intermediate print data input unit 121 takes in the intermediate print data that forms the intermediate print file MF, and the property data input unit 122 causes the virtual printer driver to operate. The printer property data sent from 110 is received. Then, the allocation determining unit 123 determines allocation of the intermediate print data based on the information about the printer group and the distribution form included in the printer property data. The allocation here means that the intermediate print data is divided into page units, and the printers 60, 70 belonging to the printer group,
80 is to define the pages to be undertaken respectively.

The allocation information thus determined is sent to the output data control unit 124. Output data control unit 12
Reference numeral 4 denotes the real print drivers 130, 1 of the printers 60, 70, 80 based on the information of the allocation of the intermediate print data taken in by the intermediate print data input unit 121.
40 and 150 are distributed and output respectively. The actual printer drivers 130, 140, 1
When outputting data to 50, specifically, the following work is performed.

First, the printer setting unit 125 performs a process of instructing the allocation destination printer to change the setting via the printer driver. Next, the output command output unit 126 issues an output command, and the performance information about the performance of the printers 60, 70, 80 returned from the real printer drivers 130, 140, 150 that received the output command is It is received by the performance information input unit 127. The output data control unit 124 has a performance information input unit 127.
Performance information received from the property data input section 1
Information related to basic print settings and paper settings included in the printer property data received from 22 (excluding information related to printer groups and distribution types)
On the basis of the above, the page to which the intermediate print data should be allocated is converted into the data suitable for the allocation destination printer 60, 70, 80 (hereinafter, this data conversion processing is referred to as rendering processing).

The output data control unit 124 uses the converted print data as final print data and outputs the final print data via the final print data output unit 128.
Send to 0,150. Real printer driver 130, 14
Nos. 0 and 150 perform final color conversion processing, such as color conversion and halftone processing, which are not executed by the virtual printer driver, on the final print data, and transmit the final print data to the printers 60, 70 and 80.

Further, the distributed printing utility 120
Includes a printer monitoring unit 129 that monitors the states of the printers 60, 70, 80 based on signals from the actual printer drivers 130, 140, 150. The printer monitoring unit 129 monitors the congestion degree of each printer and the error status of the printer (including not only a failure but also a paper jam, a paper out condition, etc.). The output data control unit 124 receives the signal from the printer monitoring unit 129, and when outputting the distributed print data, changes the output destination of a printer that is crowded or is in an error state, or cancels the output destination. Perform processing.

The actual printer drivers 130, 14
Printers 60, 70, 8 sent from 0, 150
The performance information of 0 is used by the distributed printing utility 120 as described above, and the performance information output unit 12a is also used.
It is also sent to the virtual printer driver 110 via.

3. Virtual Printer Driver The following describes how the operating system changes when the virtual printer driver 110 is installed in the computer 10. In this description, as an operating system on which the virtual printer driver 110 operates, Windows
95 (trademark of Microsoft Corporation) will be described as an example.

The user (worker) operates the computer 10 as follows to open a dialog box for setting various information for printing on the screen of the CRT display 12. That is, the operation of [Start]->[Settings]-> [Printer] opens the "Printer" window. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing this "printer" window. When the virtual printer driver 110 is installed in the computer 10, the printers 60, 70,
The actual printer driver 130 prepared for each of the 80 models,
In addition to the icons IC1, IC2, and IC3 of 140 and 150, the icon IC4 corresponding to the virtual printer driver 110 and described as "distributed printing" is displayed. That is, when the virtual printer driver 110 is also installed like the real printer driver, the icon IC4 corresponding to the virtual printer driver 110 is installed.
Will be displayed in the "Printer" window WN1.

It should be noted that the "distributed printing" icon IC4 corresponding to the virtual printer driver 110 on the "printer" window is double-clicked to open the window for the virtual printer driver 110, and then the window Printer> Properties
When the above operation is performed, a "distributed print property" dialog box for setting various information about the virtual printer is displayed. The operator can input various setting information by operating the mouse 20 and the keyboard 18 in accordance with the dialog box of "distributed printing property". The dialog box of “Distributed printing properties” corresponds to the user interface 116 described above.

4. User Interface FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying a dialog box WN2 of “distributed print properties”. As shown in the figure, in the "Distributed print properties" dialog box WN2,
Two types of card CD1, "Distributed setting" and "Printer"
CD2 is available. "Distributed setting" card CD1
Is for setting information and the like relating to the distribution form in the case of distributed printing. "Printer" card CD2
Is information about printer groups that can be distributed to,
This is for setting information regarding basic settings for printing, information regarding paper settings, and the like. Both cards CD1, C
One of D2 is selected by the operator by operating the mouse 20, and a dialog box WN2
Is displayed in. FIG. 6 shows a "distributed setting" card CD1.
The state in which is displayed is illustrated. In addition, card CD
The grouping of the contents of 1 and CD2 is not limited to the above example, and one card may include all the contents, or may be divided into three or more cards. .

As shown in the figure, the card C of "dispersion setting"
D1 is provided with three fields fd1, fd2, and fd3 of "document", "recovery", and "specified date and time". The field fd1 of "Document" is
It is for setting the print mode of the document, and is a data input field id1 for "the number of copies", a check box id2 for "print by copy", "collect by copy and page"
Check box id3, a data input field id4 for "how to combine jobs", and a data input field id5 for "separation page". Each data input field (including check box, the same applies below) id1 to id
5 is designed with the following specifications.

1) "Number of copies" data input field id1: Input the number of copies to be printed. Application program 10
The content set with 0 is input as the default. 2) Check box id2 for "Print by copy":
When the check box id2 is on, collate printing is performed, and when it is off, stack printing is performed. Here, the collated printing is to output each copy in page order, and the stack printing is to output each page for each page by the number of copies. That is, when the check box id2 is on,
When the check box id2 is off for each copy, printing is performed sequentially for each page.

3) Check box id3 for "collect by copy or page": When this check box id3 is on, it is prohibited to print a set of copies or pages on a plurality of printers. However, in the off state, the set is permitted to be printed over a plurality of printers. When the check box id3 is off, that is, "part,
If you do not group by page, ”the number of pages allocated to each printer is determined according to the print speed performance of the printer (hereinafter called the print speed performance) so that all printers at the distribution destinations finish printing almost at the same time. Is being changed. An operation state in which the number of sheets allocated to each printer is changed according to the print speed performance information is hereinafter referred to as a "speed priority mode", and this point will be described later in detail.

4) Data input field id4 of "Job grouping": When the radio button of "printer unit" in this data input field id4 is selected, all pages output from one printer are treated as one group. . When this radio button is selected, the shared printers 70 and 80 connected to the network do not mix with print results of other users. On the other hand, when the radio button "unit of copy or page number" is selected, the set of copies or pages is treated as one set. It is used when distributed to local printers 60 or when there is no problem in mixing with print results of other users.

5) Data input field id of "separator page"
5: Separation page is a page provided at the beginning or end of the group so that it can be discriminated when it is mixed with the print results of other users in the unit of the group. "lead"
When the check box of is clicked, a separator page is printed at the top position of the group. When the "End" check box is clicked, a separator page is printed at the end position of the group. Note that the name of the document to be printed, the number of copies, the number of pages, the user name, etc. are printed on the separator page.

In addition to the data input fields id1 to id5, the field fd1 of this "document" has
A distribution mode display field dd is provided which represents the distribution mode determined by the settings of the data input fields id1 to id5. This distribution form display column dd is a data input column i
It is an illustration image showing what kind of distribution form is determined by the setting contents of d1 to id5.

Here, the check box id2 for "print by copy" is the "third command" in the claims.
The check box id3 of "collect by page or page" corresponds to the means of inputting the "first command" in the claims, and the data input of "how to combine jobs" The column id4 corresponds to the means for inputting the "second command" in the claims.

Next, how the illustration image in the distribution mode display field dd is determined by the contents of the settings in the data input fields id1 to id5 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, how the illustration image is determined by the data input field id1 for "the number of copies", the check box id2 for "print by copy", and the check box id3 for "collect by copy and page" will be described.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing how the illustration image in the distribution form display field dd changes depending on the setting contents of the data input field id1 and the two check boxes id2 and id3. In the table shown in the figure, the columns are determined by whether or not to print by set, that is, whether the check box id2 of “print by set” is on or off. It is determined by whether or not to unitize, that is, whether or not the check box id3 of “collect by copy or page” is in the off state or the on state. This table is an example of the case where the number of copies set from the "number of copies" data input field id1 is four.

In the case of "print by copy" and "do not group by copy or page", as shown in the cell C11 in the first row and first column of the table, the first printer 60 The first page and the second page of the first part are printed in a collated manner, and then the first page of the second part is printed, and the second printer 70 prints the second page and the third page of the second part. The first page and the second page are printed, and the third printer 80 displays an illustration image indicating that the first page and the second page of the fourth part are printed.

In the case of "do not print by copy" and "do not combine by copy or page", the first line, second line in the table
As shown in the cell C12 in the column, since stack printing is performed, the first printer 60 prints three copies of the first page, and the second printer 70 prints the required number of copies of the first page. The remaining portion and the second page are printed in two copies, and the third printer 80 displays an illustration image indicating that the remaining portion of the required number of copies in the second portion is printed.

In the case of "print by copy" and "collect by copy and page", as shown in cell C21 in the second row and first column in the table, 1
Since the unit is prohibited from crossing multiple printers,
The first page of the first part to the second page of the second part are printed, the second printer 70 prints the first page and the second page of the third part, and the third printer 80 prints. Displays an illustration image showing that the first page and the second page of the fourth part are printed.

In the case of "do not print by copy" and "collect by copy or page", as shown in cell C22 in the second row and second column of the table, the first printer 60 is selected. Displays an illustration image indicating that the first page is printed for the required number of copies and the second printer 70 is printed for the required number of copies.

The cell C11 in the first row in the table of FIG.
The example shown in C12 is for the distribution destination printers 60, 70, 8
0 has almost the same print speed performance. Since the printing speed performance of each printer 60, 70, 80 is the same, the number of sheets allocated to each printer is almost equal. On the other hand, when the printing speed performances of the distribution destination printers 60, 70, 80 are different,
The number of sheets to be assigned to each printer differs depending on the printer model. This is because the distribution allocation is determined by "speed priority". For example, the printing speed performance of the first printer 60 is 20 ppm (Page Per
Minute) The print speed performance of the second printer 70 is 4
0 ppm, the printing speed performance of the third printer 70 is 40
If it is ppm, the performance ratio of the printing speed of each printer 60, 70, 80 is 1: 2: 2. When deciding distribution allocation in the speed priority mode (that is, "do not group by page or page" corresponding to the first row in the table)
Sometimes, the number of sheets assigned to each printer is determined so as to match this performance ratio. By doing so, each of the printers 60, 70, 80 can finish printing at the same time.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the case where allocation of distribution is decided in the speed priority mode. Four copies of a document consisting of five pages, three printers 60, 70, 8
An example of the case of 0 dispersion will be described. Each printer 60,
The printing speed performance of 70 and 80 is 20 pp as described above.
m, 40 ppm, and 40 ppm. In such a case, since the total number of pages to be printed is 20, the number of pages assigned to the first printer 60 is 4 pages from the performance ratio (1: 2: 2) of each printer 60, 70, 80. The number of pages assigned to the second and third printers 70 and 80 is 8 pages, respectively. Therefore, in the case of “printing by copy”, as shown in FIG. 8, the first printer 60 prints the first page to the fourth page of the first copy collately, The third printer 80 prints the fifth page of the first part, the first page to the fifth page of the second part, and the first page and the second page of the third part on the eye printer 70. Will print the third page to the fifth page of the third part and the first page to the fifth page of the fourth part. In addition,
Even in the case of “do not print by set”, in the stack printing, similarly, the printers 60, 70, 80 are also depending on the performance ratio (1: 2: 2) of the printers 60, 70, 80.
The number of pages to be allocated to is defined.

In this embodiment, in the case of "do not group by page or page" in the first row in the table of FIG. 7, the distribution allocation is determined in the speed priority mode as described above. However, in contrast, in the case of “collect by page and page unit” in the second row in the table of FIG. 7, the distribution is distributed with “handling priority” (hereinafter,
This is called "handling priority mode"). FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a case where distribution allocation is determined in the handling priority mode. In the handling priority mode, collection is performed in units of copies or pages, that is, a set of the units is dispersed so as not to be divided into a plurality of printers, so that collection from printers is facilitated. In FIG. 9, similarly to the example shown in FIG.
4 copies of a document consisting of 5 pages, 3 printers 6
An example is shown in which it is distributed to 0, 70 and 80.
As shown, the first printer 60 prints the first page to the fifth page of the first part in the collation, and the second printer 70 prints the first page of the second part in the collation. Pages 1 through 5 and pages 1 through 5 of Part 3 are printed, and the third printer 80 prints pages 1 through 5 of Part 4 in a collated manner. Become.
In the example of FIG. 9, the second printer 70 is configured to receive two sets, but this is because the mode is the handling priority mode and the speed priority mode. In order to reach the above-mentioned performance ratio of 1: 2: 2 in the speed priority mode, the first printer 60 has one copy, the second printer 70 has two copies, and the third printer 80 has two copies.
Since there is no remaining number of copies, we will accept one copy.

On the other hand, even in the case of "collect by page or page" in the second row in the table of FIG. 7, the configuration may be such that it is the handling priority mode but not the speed priority mode. In this case, the number of sheets undertaken by each printer is uniform regardless of the speed performance of each printer, even though the handling priority mode prohibits a set of copies by page or page from passing to a plurality of printers. When the number of copies is not evenly divisible by the number of distribution destination printers as in the examples of FIGS. 8 and 9, the number of copies is increased from the first printer side.
In case of distributing to three printers, the first printer 60 has two copies, the second printer 70 has one copy,
The third printer 80 will take over each copy.

As described above, in the case of "collect by page and page" in the second row in the table of FIG. 7, the handling priority mode and the speed priority mode, and the handling not in the speed priority mode, are handled. There are two possible states, one for the priority mode and one for the priority mode. In this embodiment, the switching between these two states is performed according to the setting contents of the data input field id4 of "how to combine jobs". When the "Printer unit" radio button in the data input field id4 is selected, all pages output from one printer are treated as one group, so that the print speed performance of each printer is considered. When the speed priority mode is set and the radio button for “copy / page number unit” in the data input field id4 is selected, each set of copy units or page units is treated as one unit. Prevented from taking priority mode.
When the radio button of "unit of copy, page number unit" in the data input field id4 is selected, the vacant printers are printed one by one with the remaining number of copies regardless of the print speed performance of each printer. It is designed to be assigned in order from the open printer.

Next, the illustration image determined from the setting contents of the data input fields id1 to id3 is "How to organize jobs".
How the data input field id4 of 4 and the data input field id5 of "break page" change will be described. Figure 1
0 is an explanatory diagram showing how the illustration image in the distribution mode display field dd is determined by the data input fields id4 and id5. In the example of the illustration image shown in FIG. 10, when the illustration image is determined by the contents of the data input fields id1 to id3 as shown in the cell C11 in FIG. It also shows how it changes.

In the table of FIG. 10, the columns are determined by which radio button, "printer unit" or "copy, page number unit", has been selected in the "job grouping" data input field id4. , "Start" and "end" in the data input field id5 of "separator page"
It depends on how both check boxes are specified.

Data input field id of "How to organize jobs"
4, when the "Printer unit" radio button is clicked, cell CE1 in the first row, first column in the table
As shown in FIG. 1, the cell C11 in FIG. 7 and its illustration image are the same, and all the pages printed by one printer are in a unified form. On the other hand, when the radio button of "unit, page number unit" is clicked, the first line,
As shown in the cell CE12 in the second column, a set of units or pages is collected, and they are once divided into the next set. Actually, "printer unit"
The same print result is obtained when there is no delimiter page even when the radio button is clicked or when the radio button for "copy by page number" is clicked.

When it is determined that there is a separator page from the data input field id5 of "Separator page", as shown in the second, third and fourth lines in the table, the first line The illustration image is defined in such a manner that a division page (black-painted portion in the figure) is inserted at the beginning, the end, or both of the sections that are visually summarized. The illustration image determined by this table is displayed in the distribution form display field dd.

Returning to FIG. 6, the "recovery" field f
d2 is for designating a recovery destination for recovery by another printer when an error occurs in the printer for distributed printing. The "recovery" field fd2 is provided with three radio buttons: "no recovery", "specify output destination", and "automatically select recovery destination". When the "Do not recover" radio button is selected, recovery is not performed even when an error occurs in the printer for distributed printing. When the "Specify output destination" radio button is selected, the output destination input from the "Printer" data input field is set as the recovery destination. If the "Automatically select the recovery destination" radio button is selected, the printer of the same model as the printer in which the error occurred is set as the recovery destination. If there is no printer of the same model, the available printer is set as the recovery destination.

The "designated date and time" field fd3 is for designating the printing time. Printing starts.

The "printer" card CD2 displayed in the "distributed print property" dialog box WN2 will be described below with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the "printer" card CD2 is provided with a "printer group" field fd4, a "paper setting" field fd5, and a content display field fd6.

"Printer group" field fd4
Is for specifying the group of printers that print the document in a distributed manner. The data input field id of the "group name"
11, a display column id12 of "printer" and a button id13 of "group setting" are provided. The “group name” data input field id11 is for setting the name of the group, and a preset group name is prepared as an option. "Printer" display field id
12 displays the printer name belonging to the group set from the data input field id1 of "group name". The "group setting" button id13 opens a new window (not shown) and accepts data input from the operator to add or delete options prepared in the "group name" data input field id11. "Printer Group"
All the printers belonging to the group designated by the field fd4 of the above, that is, the "printer" display field i
The computer 10 performs distributed printing for each printer displayed in d12. That is, among all the printers that are locally connected to the computer main body 16 or via the computer network 90, only the printer group of the group designated by the field fd4 of the "printer group" is the distribution destination of printing.

The "paper setting" field fd5 is for setting the paper and print quality.
Data input fields id14, id15, id for setting "paper direction", "paper type", "color", and "resolution" respectively
16, id17, id18 are provided.

"Paper size" data input field id14
Sets the paper size to be used together with the type of paper. For example, “A4 210 × 297 mm”, “A4
Horizontal 210 x 297 mm "," Western envelope 120 x 23
5 ”,“ postcard 100 × 147 mm ”, etc. are prepared as options. "Paper orientation" data input field id1
Reference numeral 5 indicates the direction in which paper is set in the printer, and "vertical" and "horizontal" can be selected. The "paper type" data input field id16 is used to set the type of paper, and "plain paper", "super fine special paper", and "exclusive glossy paper" are prepared as options.
The “color” data input field id17 is used to set the type of ink used in the printer 14, and “color” and “monochrome” are prepared as options. "resolution"
The data input field id18 of is for setting the resolution to be printed, and two types of "fast" and "clean" are prepared as options. Where "fast" and "clean"
Is, for example, 360 × 360 (dot) and 720 × in that order.
This shows a resolution of 720 (dot).

The contents display field fd6 includes a "printer group" field fd1 and a "paper setting" field fd.
Desired data of the contents set from d5 is displayed.

The operator operates the mouse 20 and the keyboard 18 in accordance with the "distributed printing property" dialog box WN2 configured as described above to input various setting information to the computer main body 16. . When inputting this data, the input of the input data is restricted depending on the performance information of each printer 60, 70, 80. For example, from the performance information of the printers 60, 70, 80, when the printers 60, 70, 80 can print only the paper size up to A4, the "distributed printing property"
In the "paper size" data input field id14 of the dialog box WN2, the paper size larger than A4 is excluded from the options, and the input data for the paper size larger than A4 cannot be taken.

5. Computer Program The respective units 111 to 119 realized by the virtual printer driver 110 shown in FIG. 3 are actually realized by the virtual printer driver 110 which is a computer program and various processes executed by the CPU 30 according to the virtual printer driver 110. ing. Further, each unit 1 realized by the distributed printing utility 120 shown in FIG.
21 to 129 are actually realized by the distributed printing utility 120 which is a computer program and various processes executed by the CPU 30 according to the distributed printing utility 120.

The distributed printing utility 120 is stored in the floppy disk 22 in advance like the virtual printer driver 110, and is installed in the computer 10 from the floppy disk drive 24 by activating a predetermined installation program. The installed distributed printing utility 120 is
It is stored in the HDD 41, is incorporated into the operating system when the computer 10 is powered on, and is loaded into a predetermined area of the RAM 32. In addition,
As with the virtual printer driver 110, the distributed printing utility 120 is replaced with the one stored in the floppy disk 22, and is replaced by a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, an IC.
It may be configured to be stored in another portable recording medium (portable recording medium) such as a card. The distributed printing utility 120 also downloads program data provided via a computer network from a specific server connected to an external computer network (for example, the Internet), and stores the RAM 32 or H.
It can also be obtained by transferring to the DD 41.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing routine described by the virtual printer driver 110 together with the processing routine described by the application program 100. As shown in the figure, the CPU 30 of the computer main body 16 first shifts the processing to the application program 100 to perform processing of an image to create image data (step S210). This application program 100 is a general-purpose application program for creating documents, pictures, etc.,
Image data is created by using the function peculiar to each application program.

Next, the CPU 30 executes a [print] command provided in the created application program to issue a print command for performing distributed printing (step S220). FIG.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a “print” dialog box WN3 displayed on the CRT display 12 when a [print] command is operated on the application program 100. As shown in the figure, the "print" dialog box WN3 is provided with a "printer name" data input field id21. In the data input field id21 of this "printer name", "distributed printing" described in FIG.
When the "id" button id22 is clicked by the mouse 20 in the state where the character string "distributed printing" corresponding to the icon IC4 of "1" is selected and input, the application program 100 issues a print instruction to perform the distributed printing. It is issued to the virtual printer driver 110. In the "Print" dialog box WN3,
When the "property" button id23 is clicked by the mouse 20, the process is transferred to the distributed information setting routine according to the virtual printer driver 110, and the "distributed print property" dialog box WN2 is displayed on the CRT display 12, and the keyboard 18 and By reading the input data from the mouse 20, a process of setting various information related to distributed printing is performed. The print command may be issued from an application program via the operating system.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing a shared information setting routine executed by the CPU 30. As shown in the figure, when the processing is started, the CPU 30 first
The "Distributed printing property" dialog box WN2 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the CRT display 12 (step S301). Next, the CPU 30 inputs various data in response to the data input operation using the keyboard 18 and the mouse 20 by the operator who sees the display screen of the CRT display 12 (step S302). The various data input here are the "Distributed print properties" dialog box WN2 shown in FIGS. 6 and 11.
This is data that can be input from, and corresponds to information on the distribution form of distributed printing, information on printer groups, information on basic print settings, and information on paper settings. Subsequently, the illustration image generated based on the input various data is displayed in the distribution form display field dd in the dialog box WN2 of the "distributed printing property". This illustration image is the image illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 10 described above. After that, the CPU 30 stores the various data input in step 302 in the RAM 32 as printer property data (step S30).
3). After that, the process returns to "return" to end the processing of this routine.

When the processing according to this distributed information setting routine is completed, then, as described above, when the "OK" button id22 in the "Print" dialog box WN3 is clicked by the mouse 20, the print command is issued. Is issued. If the "property" button id23 is not clicked immediately and the "OK" button id22 is clicked by the mouse 20, the printer property data (the printer property data stored in the RAM 32 when the distributed information setting routine was executed last time). In the case of the first time, the initial printer property data prepared in advance remains.

When the print command is issued in step S220, the CPU 30 shifts the process to the virtual printer driver 110 and performs a process of determining whether or not the print command is fetched from the process by the application program 100 (step S310). . Here, if it is determined that the print command has not been fetched, the determination process of step S310 is repeatedly executed, and the application program 1
It waits for the print command from 00 to be fetched. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S310 that the print command has been fetched, the following process is executed.

The CPU 30 firstly determines the printers 60, 7
Actual printer driver 13 prepared for each 0,80 model
Distributed printing utility 120 from 0, 140, 150
The performance information of each of the printers 60, 70, 80 acquired by is acquired from the distributed printing utility 120 (step S320). After that, the CPU 30 extracts the highest performance information from the performance information of these printers 60, 70, 80 and determines this as the performance information of the virtual printer (step S330). After that, the CPU 30 sends the performance information of the virtual printer to the application program 100.
To (step S340).

When the virtual printer performance information is sent from the virtual printer driver 110, the CPU 30 shifts the processing to the application program 100 and fetches the performance information of the virtual printer (step S24).
0). Next, the CPU 30 includes the performance information, information about basic print settings and information about paper settings included in the printer property data stored in the RAM 32 by the above-described distributed information setting routine (excluding information about printer groups and distribution forms). Based on step S
The image data created in 210 is converted into print data suitable for the virtual printer (step S250). afterwards,
The print data after the conversion is converted into the virtual printer driver 110.
To (step S260). CPU30 complete | finishes the processing routine of the application program 100, after complete | finishing the process of step S260.

When print data suitable for the virtual printer is sent from the application program 100, C
The PU 30 shifts the processing to the virtual printer driver 110 and fetches the print data (step S350).
Subsequently, the CPU 30 sets the fetched print data as intermediate print data and sets the intermediate print data in the HDD 41.
(Step S360). As a result, a data set including the intermediate print data is stored in the HDD 41 as the intermediate print file MF. After finishing the process of step S360, the CPU 30 ends the process routine of the virtual printer driver 110.

15 and 16 are flowcharts showing the processing routine described in the distributed printing utility 120. This processing routine is started after the processing routine of the virtual printer driver 110 is completed. When the processing starts, as shown in FIG.
First, U30 reads the intermediate print file MF from the HDD 41.
The intermediate print data of the above is fetched (step S410). Next, the CPU 30 takes in printer property data, which is various information set by the shared information setting routine (step S420).

Subsequently, the CPU 30 proceeds to step S420.
Based on the information about the printer group and the information about the distribution form included in the printer property data captured in step S410, an allocation determination routine for determining the allocation of the intermediate print data captured in step S410 is executed (step S430). This allocation decision routine is
It defines how each page constituting the intermediate print data is allocated to each printer 60, 70, 80 belonging to the printer group. That is, the distribution form set in the dialog box WN2 of the "distributed printing property" is realized (that is, the distribution form illustrated in FIG. 10 displayed in the distribution form display field dd of the card CD1 of the "distributed setting" Each page constituting the intermediate print data, and how each printer 60, 70,
It is decided whether to allocate for 80.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing details of the allocation determination routine executed in step S430. As shown in the figure, when the processing shifts to this routine, the CPU 30 first obtains the total number of pages to be printed from the intermediate print data fetched in step S410 (step S431). Next, a printer that can be a distribution destination is determined from the information about the printer group included in the printer property data captured in step S420 (step S432). Subsequently, the performance information of each printer 60, 70, 80 is acquired from the actual printer driver 130, 140, 150 prepared for each printer 60, 70, 80 determined to be the distribution destination (step S433). Then, the print speed performance of each printer 60, 70, 80 is obtained from the obtained information, and the printer 60, 70 for the print speed is obtained from the distributed print speed performance.
The performance ratio of 70 and 80 is calculated (step S43).
4).

After that, the CPU 30 determines whether or not it is in the speed priority mode (step S435). This determination is made by reading the information regarding the distribution form included in the printer property data captured in step S420,
The determination is made based on whether or not there is an instruction such as "do not group by page or page", that is, whether or not the check box id3 is off. here,
In speed priority mode, i.e. check box i
When it is determined that d3 is in the off state, the performance ratio calculated in step S434 is considered,
A process for determining the allocation of the intermediate print data fetched in step S410 is performed (step S436). This process is performed in detail as follows. First, the ratio of the number of sheets allocated to each printer is determined so as to match the performance ratio calculated in step S434. For example, when the performance ratio of each printer 60, 70, 80 is 1: 2: 2, the number of allocated sheets of each printer 60, 70, 80 is set to 1: 2: 2. Next, the intermediate print data fetched in step S410 is divided into page units, and the printers 60, 70, 80 belonging to the printer group are divided so that the distributed form set in the "Distributed print property" dialog box WN2 is realized. Decide which page to accept. When determining this page, the determined ratio of the number of sheets allocated to each printer is realized. The information about the page assigned to each printer thus determined is stored in the RAM 32 as output destination list data.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the output destination list data. The illustrated example is a case where the allocation is determined as shown in FIG. 1 as shown
The first printer 60 (the order set in the printer is first)
, 1, 2, 3, 4, for the second printer 70 in this order, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1,
Each page of page 2 is 3, 4, 5, 1, for the third printer 80 (the order set in the printer is the last) in this order.
The pages 2, 3, 4, and 5 are determined in this order as page numbers to be printed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S435 that the speed priority mode is not set, that is, the check box id3 is in the ON state, a set of copies or pages does not reach a plurality of printers. In other words, the process for determining the allocation of the intermediate print data fetched in step S410 is performed so that the handling priority mode is set (step S437). More specifically, this process divides the intermediate print data fetched in step S410 into page units so that a set or a page unit (this selection is determined by the check box id2) does not reach a plurality of printers. , And the “Distributed Print Properties” dialog box WN
The pages accepted by the printers 60, 70, and 80 belonging to the printer group are determined so that the distributed form set in 2 is realized. The information about the page assigned to each printer thus determined is stored in the RAM 32 as output destination list data.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the output destination list data. The illustrated example is a case where the allocation is determined as shown in FIG. 1 as shown
Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 for the second printer 60 are 1, 2 and 3 for the second printer 70 in this order.
Pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are 1, 2, 3, 4, for the third printer 80 in this order.
Each page of No. 5 is determined in this order as a page number to be printed.

After the step S436 or S437 is completed, the process goes to "END" to end this processing routine once.

When the allocation of the output destination of each page is determined in step S436 or 437, then the following processing is executed so that printing is actually performed according to this allocation. First, as shown in FIG. 16, the CPU 30 sets the printer counter C1 indicating the printer to be printed to the value 1 (step S440). Here, when the value of the printer counter C1 is 1, the first printer 60
When the value is 2, the second printer 70 is used, and when the value is 3, it is 3
Each of the distribution destination printers is referred to as the second printer 70.

Next, the CPU 30 performs a process of instructing the printer corresponding to the value of the printer counter C1 to change the setting (step S450). This process urges the printer to be printed to prepare for printing via the printer driver. Of the information on the basic printing settings and the information on the paper settings included in the printer property data fetched in step S420, To the printer driver for the necessary setting information. For example, by notifying the printer driver that the type of paper is “exclusive glossy paper”, it is determined that the printer can perform printing suitable for the paper.

Subsequently, the CPU 30 sets the page counter C2 indicating the number of pages to be printed to the value 1 (step S460). After that, the CPU 30 determines whether or not the output destination list data obtained in step S430 includes the page specified by the printer counter C1 and the page counter C2 (step S470).
Here, if it is determined that the data is included in the output destination list data, the following processing is performed. First, the printer counter C1
Of the real printer driver 130 (14
0, 150) to issue an output command (step S
480). From the actual printer driver 130 (140, 150) that has received the output command, the printer 60
Since the performance information about the performance of (70, 80) is returned, the CPU 30 then takes in the performance information (step S490).

Subsequently, the performance information and step S42
The page specified by the printer counter C1 and the page counter C2 based on the information about the basic settings of printing, the information about the paper settings, and the like (excluding the information about the printer group and the distribution form) included in the printer property data that is fetched as 0 The process of creating the final print data is performed (step S500). Specifically, the page data of the page corresponding to the value of the page counter C2 is extracted from the intermediate print data fetched in step S410, and the extracted page data is used as the performance information, the information on the basic setting of printing, and the paper setting. The final print data is created by performing the rendering process for converting the data into the data suitable for the printer 60 (70, 80) corresponding to the value of the printer counter C1 based on the information regarding the above.

Thereafter, the CPU 30 sends the final print data to the printer 60 corresponding to the value of the printer counter C1.
(70, 80) real printer driver 130 (140,
It outputs to 150) (step S510). Before executing printing in steps S480 to S510,
A process of monitoring the status of each printer 60, 70, 80 is performed based on the signals from the real printer drivers 130, 140, 150, and the result of this monitoring is an error that the output destination printer is busy or is in an error state. When the printer is in the state, it is possible to change the output destination or cancel the output destination for the printer to the output destination.

Thereafter, the CPU 30 causes the page counter C
The value of 2 is incremented by 1 (step S52)
0). When a negative determination is made in step S470, steps S480 to S510 are skipped and the process immediately proceeds to step S520. After that, the CPU 30
It is determined whether or not the value of the page counter C2 exceeds the value LC2 indicating the last page (step S530). Here, if it is determined that the value does not exceed the value LC2 indicating the final page, the process returns to step S470 to perform the process of creating and outputting the final print data for the page for which the value 1 is increased. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S530 that the value of the page counter C2 exceeds the value LC2 indicating the last page, the CPU 30 increments the value of the printer counter C1 by 1 (step S5
40), it is determined whether or not the value of the printer counter C1 exceeds the value LC1 indicating the last printer (step S550). Here, if it is determined that the value LC1 indicating the last printer is not exceeded, the process proceeds to step S450.
Then, the process of creating and outputting the final print data of each page for the next printer 70 (80, 60) indicated by the printer counter C1 having the value 1 increased is performed. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S550 that the value of the printer counter C1 exceeds the value LC1 indicating the last page, it is determined that the creation / output of the final print data of all pages requiring printing for all printers is completed, "End" to end the processing routine of the distributed printing utility.

As described above, the processing routine of this distributed printing utility processes the creation and output of the final print data from page 1 to the final page in order for each printer from the first printer to the final printer. Although it is described as being performed for convenience of description of the flow chart, in reality, the process of creating and outputting the final print data from page 1 to the final page is performed by each printer. Each of them is configured to be processed in parallel by macro by time division. In this embodiment, the processing for each printer is configured to be processed in parallel in a macro manner, but instead of this, by using a computer main body equipped with a plurality of microprocessors, complete parallel processing is achieved. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which

FIG. 20 shows the procedure of distributed printing performed by the computer system configured as described above.
It is a timing chart shown in comparison with a conventional example. The illustrated example shows a case where a document including three pages is printed on each of the three printers 60, 70, 80 one by one. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, the intermediate print data is first created (), and then the page data of the first page of the intermediate print data is processed in parallel by the printer 60, the printer 70, and the printer. Rendering is performed so as to be compatible with each printer in order from 80 (,,). The process of transmitting the data converted for the printer 60 (final print data) to the printer 60 is performed in parallel with the rendering process for the next printer 70. Similarly, the process of transmitting to the printer 70 is performed. And the transmission to the printer 80 are performed in parallel with the next rendering process. Then, the page data of the second page of the intermediate print data is subjected to rendering processing in parallel processing so as to be compatible with each printer in order of the printer 60, the printer 70, the printer 80 (,
,), And subsequently, the page data of the third page of the intermediate print data is subjected to the parallel processing to render the printer 60, the printer 70, and the printer 80 in order so as to be compatible with each printer (,, ◯). 10). In this way, all printing is completed.

On the other hand, in the conventional apparatus, first, 1
The rendering process is performed so that the page data of the page fits the first printer A, and then the process of transmitting the converted data to the printer A is performed. Next, the rendering process is performed so that the page data of the second page fits the first printer A,
Then, the process of transmitting the converted data to the printer A is performed. Then, the rendering process is performed so that the page data of the third page is suitable for the first printer A, and then the process of transmitting the converted data is performed. After that, the rendering process and the transmission to the printer of the second printer B are performed in order of the first page, the second page, and the third page in the same manner as the first printer A. After that, as for the third printer C, data conversion and transmission to the printer are performed in the same order as the first printer A, the first page, the second page, and the third page.

Therefore, in this embodiment, since the rendering process and the process of transmitting to the printer are performed in parallel, the total time required for printing can be shortened as compared with the conventional example. Produce an effect.

Further, according to this embodiment, the virtual printer driver 11 is transmitted from the application program 100.
Intermediate print data can be obtained only by issuing one print command to 0, and distributed printing is automatically performed from the intermediate print data to the printers 60, 70, 80. For this reason, the worker only needs to execute the [print] command once on the application program, which is advantageous in that the workability is excellent.

In this embodiment, the distributed printing utility 120 automatically determines which printer receives each page of the print data, and therefore the worker needs to individually make a print request to the destination printer. There is no. Therefore, it is excellent in workability. Also,
In this embodiment, in the speed priority mode, each printer 6
Each printer 6 from the performance information of the printing speed of 0, 70, 80
Obtain the performance ratio for print speeds of 0, 70, 80,
Each printer 60, 70,
Since 80 defines the number of pages to be accepted, a large number of pages are printed for a printer with high printing speed performance and a small number of pages are printed for a printer with low printing speed performance. For this reason, each printer can finish printing almost at the same time. Therefore, there is an effect that the total time required for printing can be shortened.

Further, in this embodiment, in the handling priority mode, it is possible to prohibit the printing result from passing to a printer having a different unit or page unit. Therefore, when the print result is taken out from the printer that has finished printing, the print result is in the state of being collected in the above unit. Therefore, there is an effect that the workability in collecting the print result is excellent.

Further, in this embodiment, the speed priority mode and the handling priority mode can be easily set by turning on / off the check box id3 of "collect by page or page" provided in the dialog box WN2 of "distributed printing property". Can be switched to. Therefore, the operability is excellent.

In this embodiment, even when the check box id3 for "collect by copy or page" is on and the handling priority mode is set, the data input field id4 for "how to combine jobs" is set to " By inputting "printer unit", speed priority can be achieved while handling priority is given.

In this embodiment, it is possible to easily switch between collated printing and stack printing by turning on / off the check box id2 of "print by copy".

In this embodiment, the operator can easily input the information about the distributed form of the distributed printing and the information about the printer group from the dialog box WN2 of the "distributed printing property" displayed on the CRT display 12. . In particular, in this embodiment, how the distribution form is determined from these information is displayed in the distribution form display field d in the "Distributed print property" dialog box WN2.
The operator can see from the illustration image displayed in d. Therefore, it is possible to visually know how the distribution is performed before executing the distributed printing.
Excellent workability. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the distribution destination printer name is not added to the illustration image displayed in the distribution mode display field dd. However, instead of this, the distribution destination printer name is added to the illustration image. May be added. That is, the printer name of the distribution destination may be indicated for each set of arranged pages, and with this configuration, the operator can easily know which printer is the distribution destination.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the above-described embodiment, the distributed printing control apparatus of the present invention has a configuration in which print data is directly output from one computer 10 that performs printing to a plurality of printers 60, 70, 80. However, instead of this, A server / server system may be provided on the computer network 90, and printers may be managed on the server to perform distributed printing in a client / server system. With this configuration, each client may include a virtual printer driver, and the server may include a distributed printing utility.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment and can be carried out in various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course, you can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of hardware of a computer system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing an overall state of distributed printing processing.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a processing state of a virtual printer driver 110 used for distributed printing processing.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a processing state of a distributed printing utility 120 which realizes a part of distributed printing processing.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a “printer” window WN1.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a “distributed setting” card CD1 displayed in a “distributed print property” dialog box WN2.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing how the illustration image in the distribution mode display field changes depending on the settings of the data input fields id1 to id3.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a case where allocation of distribution is determined in a speed priority mode.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a case where distribution allocation is determined in the handling priority mode.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing how the illustration image in the distribution mode display field changes depending on the settings of the data input fields id4 and id5.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a “printer” card CD2 displayed in a “distributed print property” dialog box WN2.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing routine described in the application program 100 and a processing routine described in the virtual printer driver 110.

FIG. 13 is a “print” dialog box WN3 displayed on the CRT display 12 when a “print” command is operated on the application program 100.
It is explanatory drawing which shows an example.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a shared information setting routine executed by the CPU 30.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the first half of the processing routine described by the distributed printing utility 120.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the latter half of the processing routine described by the distributed printing utility 120.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing details of an allocation determination routine executed in step S430.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of output destination list data in the speed priority mode.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of output destination list data in the handling priority mode.

FIG. 20 is a timing chart showing the procedure of distributed printing according to this embodiment in comparison with a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Computer 12 ... CRT display 14 ... Printer 16 ... Computer body 18 ... Keyboard 20 ... Mouse 22 ... Floppy disk 24 ... Floppy disk drive 30 ... CPU 31 ... ROM 32 ... RAM 33 ... Display image memory 34 ... Mouse interface 35 ... Keyboard Interface 36 ... FDC 37 ... HDC 38 ... CRTC 39 ... Printer interface 40 ... Network control circuit 41 ... HDD 60, 70, 80 ... Printer 90 ... Computer network 100 ... Application program 110 ... Virtual printer driver 111 ... Print command receiving unit 112 ... Performance information reply unit 113 ... Property setting unit 114 ... Performance information input unit 115 ... Virtual printer performance determination unit 116 ... User interface 117 ... Print data Reception unit 118 ... Intermediate print data output unit 119 ... Property data output unit 120 ... Distributed printing utility 121 ... Intermediate print data input unit 122 ... Property data input unit 123 ... Determination unit 124 ... Output data control unit 125 ... Printer setting unit 126 ... Output command output unit 127 ... Performance information input unit 128 ... Final print data output unit 129 ... Printer monitoring unit 12a ... Performance information output unit 130, 140, 150 ... Actual printer driver MF ... Intermediate print file WN2 ... "Distributed stamp property" Window id2 ... Check box for "Print by copy" id3 ... Check box for "Collate by copy, page" id4 ... Data input field for "How to organize jobs"

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Akihiro Sato             2-27 Chuo 2-chome, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture             Within iSoft Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Mochida             2-27 Chuo 2-chome, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture             Within iSoft Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hironori Togashi             2-27 Chuo 2-chome, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture             Within iSoft Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 HJ10 HQ01 HR08                 2C187 AE07 AE11 BF03 CD13 CD16                       JA07                 5B021 AA01 BB01 CC05 EE02

Claims (21)

[Claims] 1. A data allocating unit that defines print data to be printed, and a data output control unit that distributes and outputs the print data to each printer according to the information defined by the data allocating unit. A distributed printing control device capable of printing a plurality of copies of the print data, wherein the data allocation unit arranges each page in page order in units of copies, and sets all pages for the number of copies to the number of destination printers. The data output control means performs the distributed output of the print data substantially in parallel to each printer, and the divided output is allocated to each of the plurality of printers. Each distributed output converts the print data of each page in order from the allocated first page to a form suitable for the destination printer. Distributed printing control apparatus after having performed physical those configured to perform an output of the print data. 2. The distributed printing control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a virtual printer driver storage unit that stores a virtual printer driver that defines information about a virtual printer corresponding to the plurality of printers. An intermediate print data generation unit that obtains intermediate print data suitable for the virtual printer from an application program that generates data that is the source of the print data by executing the virtual printer driver. A distributed printing control device using the obtained intermediate printing data as printing data used by the data allocating means and the data output controlling means. 3. A distributed printing control device comprising: a data allocation unit that defines print data to be printed; and a data output control unit that distributes and outputs the print data to each printer according to the information defined by the data allocation unit. The printer speed performance detecting means for detecting the performance of the respective printers with respect to the printing speed, and the data allocating means determines the number of pages to be allocated to each printer by the printer speed performance detecting means. A distributed printing control device configured to be determined according to the printing speed performance of the printer. 4. The distributed printing control device according to claim 3, wherein an input window is displayed on the display device, and various kinds of information about the distribution of the print data is set based on the input data from the input device. The distributed information setting means, wherein the data allocating means is configured such that a page accepted by each of the plurality of printers is determined based on various information set by the distributed information setting means. The distributed printing control apparatus further includes a display control unit that generates an illustration image in which print media are arranged corresponding to the information determined by the data allocation unit from the various information and displays the image on the display device. 5. A distributed printing control apparatus comprising: a data allocating unit that defines print data to be printed; and a data output control unit that distributes and outputs the print data to each printer according to information defined by the data allocating unit. In the distributed printing control device, the data allocating unit is configured such that the number of pages to be allocated to each printer is determined so that a set of units for collecting the pages fits in the same printer. 6. The distributed printing control apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a printer speed performance detection unit that detects the performance of each of the printers with respect to the printing speed, and the data allocation unit is externally provided with a predetermined value. When the first command is input, the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is determined so that a set of pages is set in the same printer, and the first command is not input. In addition, the distributed printing control device is configured such that the number of pages allocated to each printer is determined according to the printing speed performance of each printer detected by the printer speed performance detecting means. 7. The distributed printing control device according to claim 6, wherein the first command is input, and a predetermined second external command is input from the outside.
Command is input, the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is the same as one set of pages, but the print speed of each printer detected by the printer speed performance detection means is A distributed printing control device that is configured to be determined according to performance. 8. The distributed printing control device according to claim 5, wherein the data allocation unit receives a set of units for grouping the pages from the outside. A distributed printing control apparatus comprising unit setting means for switching and setting a unit of a copy to be printed or a unit of the same page order according to a command. 9. The distributed print control device according to claim 5, wherein an input window is displayed on a display device, and the print data of the print data is displayed based on input data from the input device. Distributing information setting means for setting various kinds of information about dispersion is provided, and the data allocating means is configured to determine a page to be accepted by each of the plurality of printers based on the various information set by the distributing information setting means. The distributed information setting unit further includes a display control unit that generates an illustration image in which print media are arranged, corresponding to the information determined by the data allocation unit, from the various types of information and displays the image on the display device. Print control device. 10. A method comprising: (a) determining print data to be printed; and (b) distributing the print data to each printer in accordance with information determined by the data allocating means, and if necessary. In the step (a), each page is arranged in the order of pages, and all the pages corresponding to the number of copies are printed by the destination printer. The printer is configured to be divided into a plurality of numbers and assigned to each of the plurality of printers. In the step (b), the distributed output of the print data is performed substantially in parallel for each printer. , Each distributed output, in order from the allocated first page, the process of converting the print data of each page into a form suitable for the destination printer. Distributed printing control method is one that is configured to perform output of the print data on it in. 11. A method comprising: (a) determining print data to be printed; and (b) distributing the print data to each printer according to information determined by the data allocating means, and if necessary. A distributed printing control method capable of printing a plurality of copies of the print data by: (c) detecting the performance of each printer with respect to printing speed; The distributed printing control method is configured such that the number of pages to be allocated to the printer is determined according to the printing speed performance of each printer detected in step (c). 12. A distributed printing control method comprising: (a) defining print data to be printed; and (b) distributing the print data to each printer in accordance with information defined by the data allocation means. The step (a) is a distributed printing control method in which the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is determined so that a set of page grouping units can fit in the same printer. 13. A computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program used in a distributed printing control device for distributed printing of print data to be printed to a plurality of printers, wherein (a) the print data to be printed is defined. The computer realizes the function and (b) the function of distributedly outputting the print data to each printer according to the information determined by the function (a), and the function (a) prints each page in units of copies. The pages are arranged in order of pages, all pages for the number of copies are divided into the number of destination printers, and each of the divided printers is assigned to the plurality of printers. The function (b) is The distributed output of the print data is performed substantially in parallel to each printer, and each distributed output is assigned to the head page assigned to it. Page-by-page conversion, the print data of each page is converted into a format suitable for the destination printer, and then the print data is output. Possible recording medium. 14. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein: (c) a virtual printer driver that defines information about a virtual printer corresponding to the plurality of printers is stored in advance in a storage device. And a function of (d) executing the virtual printer driver to obtain intermediate print data suitable for the virtual printer from an application program that generates data that is the source of the print data. A computer-readable recording medium which is further realized by a computer and which records a computer program in which the intermediate print data obtained by the function (d) is used as print data used in the function (a) and the function (b). 15. A computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program used in a distributed printing control device for distributed printing of print data to be printed to a plurality of printers, wherein (a) the print data to be printed is defined. The computer is provided with a function, (b) a function of distributing and outputting the print data to each printer according to the information determined by the function (a), and (c) a function of detecting the performance of each printer with respect to the printing speed. In addition to being realized, the function (a) is configured such that the number of pages allocated to each printer is determined according to the printing speed performance of each printer detected by the printer speed performance detecting means. A computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program. 16. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 15, wherein (d) an input window is displayed on a display device, and the print data is distributed based on input data from the input device. The computer realizes the function of setting various kinds of information, and the function (a) is based on the various kinds of information set by the function (d).
The plurality of printers are configured to define pages to be accepted, and the function (d) further includes, from the various information, an illustration image in which print media are arranged, which corresponds to the information defined by the function (a). A computer-readable recording medium in which a computer program having a function of generating and displaying on the display device is recorded. 17. A computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program used in a distributed printing control device for distributed printing of print data to be printed to a plurality of printers, wherein (a) the print data to be printed is defined. The computer further realizes a function and (b) a function of distributedly outputting the print data to each printer according to the information determined by the function (a), and the function (a) is a function of a page assigned to each printer. A computer-readable recording medium in which a computer program is recorded, the number of which is set so that a set of units for collecting pages fits in the same printer. 18. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 17, wherein (c) the computer further realizes a function of detecting the performance of each printer with respect to the printing speed, and the function (a). ) Is determined such that when a predetermined first command is input from the outside, the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is set so that a set of units for grouping pages fits in the same printer. A computer program configured such that the number of pages to be allocated to each printer is determined according to the printing speed performance of each printer detected by the function (c) when there is no input. Computer readable recording medium. 19. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 18, wherein the function (a) is such that the first command is input and a predetermined second external function is input.
Command is input, the number of pages to be assigned to each printer is the performance of the printing speed of each printer detected by the function (c) even if a set of pages is set in the same printer. A computer-readable recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon which is configured to be determined according to the above. 20. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 17, wherein the function (a) is input from the outside with a set of units for grouping the pages. A computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program having a function of determining by switching to a unit of a copy to be printed or a unit of the same page order according to a third command. 21. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 17, wherein the computer program further comprises (d) displaying an input window on a display device and inputting the input window. The computer realizes the function of setting various information about the distribution of the print data based on the input data from the apparatus, and the function (a) is based on the various information set by the function (d),
Each of the plurality of printers is configured to determine a page to be accepted, and the function (d) further includes, from the various information, an illustration image in which print media are arranged, which corresponds to the information defined by the function (a). A computer-readable recording medium in which a computer program having a function of generating and displaying on the display device is recorded.