JPH11242573A - Information processing device and method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing device which is made to print the print data at a high speed by using plural printers by preparing the spoolers of numbers corresponding to the sets of the connected printers, distributing the print data to the respective prepared spoolers and transferring the distributed print data to the corresponding printers. SOLUTION: A multi-printer print mode is set, print data are read out of a 1st spooler 60 by a backgrounder 61 and sent to a multi-printer controller 66. The controller 66 divides the print data for each page unit and to coincide with the set numbers of available printers in order to distribute the print data and to print them. Then, the controller 66 transfers the divided print data to an output task 68 which prepares the print data and outputs them for every distributed printer. As a result, the print data can be fast printed by using plural printers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing method capable of causing a plurality of printers to print.
And a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, several types of printers employing an ink-jet system have come to be seen. Although these printers were relatively inexpensive, they were capable of producing color prints close to photographs, making it easy for anyone to create highly appealing documents.

[0003] However, these ink jet type color printers are only one tenth or less in terms of printing speed as compared with color laser beam printers.

This is because these ink jet printers are so-called serial printers.
In this serial printer, printing is performed by ejecting ink to a certain width in the vertical direction while the print head scans in the left-right direction. After performing one horizontal scan, the printing paper is fed in a certain amount in the vertical direction, and further horizontal scan is performed. By repeating this for one page of printing paper,
Finish printing.

[0005] On the other hand, a laser beam printer is called a page printer, and can print one page at a time. Therefore, compared to inkjet printers,
Printing can be completed in an extremely short time.

However, considering the price, a color laser printer is more than 30 times as expensive as a color ink jet printer, and it is impossible for anyone to use it easily. Also, when comparing consumables, the price difference is more than 10 times.

[0007]

As described above, it cannot be denied that the ink jet printer is inexpensive but has a problem that the printing speed is slow. Further, even with a laser beam printer, there is a limit to the printing speed in a single printer.

An object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems is to print at high speed using a plurality of printers.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a storage medium capable of sorting and transferring print data according to the characteristics of a connected printer.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus for creating the number of spoolers corresponding to the number of connected printers. And a transfer unit for transferring print data allocated to each spooler by the allocation unit to a corresponding printer.

Further, the information processing method of the present invention comprises a creating step of creating a number of spoolers corresponding to the number of connected printers, and an allocating step of allocating print data to each spooler created by the creating step. ,
A transfer step of transferring the print data allocated to each spooler in the allocation step to a corresponding printer.

Further, the storage medium of the present invention includes a creating step of creating a number of spoolers corresponding to the number of connected printers, an allocating step of allocating print data to each spooler created by the creating step, And a transfer step of transferring the print data allocated to each spooler in the allocation step to a corresponding printer.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front external view of a printer 100 having an ink-jet printing mechanism embodying the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a power switch and reference numeral 2 denotes a reset switch for recovering from a failure in which a paper-out error or the like has occurred. Reference numeral 3 denotes an LED which lights up in green when the power is turned on and lights up in orange when an error occurs. Blinks when receiving print data and when printing, indicating the difference in operation.

FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof. 4 is USB (Univers
al Serial Bus) is A type connector and 5 is B
It is a connection part of a type connector. Reference numeral 6 denotes a Centronics type connector. Note that the USB standard is not directly related to the gist of the present invention, and thus a detailed description is omitted.
The USB standard includes the Universal Serial Bus Specification ve
rsion 1.0 (January 19, 1996).
The Centronics type interface is IEEE
Compliant with 1284. Similarly, since the IEEE 1284 standard itself has no direct relation to the present invention, a detailed description is omitted.

FIG. 3 is an external view of the USB cable. 7 is A
A type connector 8 is a B type connector.

The printer of FIG. 1 is connected to the personal computer 200 of FIG. 4 using the USB cable of FIG. Figure
4 is a rear view of the personal computer. 4 in Figure 4
This is an example in which a USB A type connector is mounted in upper and lower stages. 3 in FIG. 3 is connected to one of 9 in FIG. 4, and 8 in FIG. 3 is connected to 5 in FIG. Similarly, it is also possible to connect the A type connector of another USB cable to 4 in FIG. 2, and connect the B type connector of the same cable to another printer of the same type. This is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, 10 is U
Indicates SB connection. As shown in FIG. 5, a USB allows a plurality of printers to be cascaded to one personal computer. Each printer connected in cascade can operate completely independently without affecting each other. Up to four printers can be connected.

The printer shown in FIG. 1 can exchange a print cartridge. For this reason, it is possible to perform printing by mounting an optimal cartridge according to the content or purpose of printing on the printer. FIG. 6 shows various types of print cartridges that can be mounted on the printer of FIG.

Reference numeral 11 in FIG. 6 denotes a black ink print cartridge, which is optimal for printing a text-only document. Figure
6 of 12 is a print cartridge composed of 6 colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black plus a light color of cyan and magenta, which gives good results when used for printing photographic images. It is a cartridge that can be used.
Reference numeral 13 in FIG. 6 denotes a print cartridge composed of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. When used for general color printing, it is possible to obtain optimal results. The printer of FIG. 1 embodying the present invention can selectively mount these cartridges. The method is shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 14 in FIG. 7 denotes a cartridge exchange switch. By pressing this switch, the cartridge moves to the center of the carriage, and replacement of the cartridge is facilitated.
Reference numeral 15 in FIG. 7 shows a case where the cartridge is removed. 16 in FIG. 7 is a view in which the cartridge is mounted, and 17 in FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the state in which the cartridge is mounted.

Each of the cartridges shown in FIG. 6 has a unique ID. The printer shown in FIG. 1 reads the cartridge ID when the cartridge is mounted, and detects which type of cartridge is mounted. It is possible to

FIG. 8 shows the printer 10 of FIG. 1 embodying the present invention.
0 is a block diagram of FIG. Reference numeral 18 in FIG. 8 denotes a power switch corresponding to 1 in FIG. Reference numeral 19 in FIG. 8 is a cartridge exchange switch corresponding to 14 in FIG. Reference numeral 20 in FIG. 8 is a reset switch corresponding to 2 in FIG. Reference numeral 21 in FIG. 8 denotes an LED that lights in green when the power is turned on, and corresponds to 3 in FIG. Figure 22
Is an LED that lights in orange when an error occurs, and also corresponds to 3 in FIG. This LED alone can be lit in two colors, green and orange. Reference numeral 23 in FIG. 8 is a signal line for transmitting the operation of the power switch 18 in FIG. 8 to the MPU 30 in FIG. This signal is used as the interrupt signal of 26 in FIG.
Is transmitted to the MPU, and is preferentially processed in the 30 MPUs. Reference numeral 25 in FIG. 8 denotes an address bus and a data bus connecting the printer control gate array 27 in FIG. 8, the MPU 30 and the ROM 29. The 29 ROM stores a program describing the operation and processing of the MPU. Reference numeral 27 in FIG. 8 denotes a printer control gate array, which has control functions such as switches, LEDs, interfaces, and memories. 28 in FIG. 8
30 is a RAM that provides a storage area for temporarily storing data and the like when the MPU 30 performs processing. Fig. 8 shows 31
And 32 and 33 are signal lines for transmitting signals for controlling the step motors. Reference numeral 32 denotes a carriage motor for moving the carriage 103, which is a support of the ink cartridge, shown in FIG. 7 as viewed from the front in FIG. 33 is a feed motor for feeding printing paper. The printing paper is accommodated in a printing paper tray 100 shown in FIG. 1, passes through the inside of the printer, and is discharged to a printing paper tray 101. The feed motor 33 moves the printing paper.
Reference numeral 35 in FIG. 8 is the ink cartridge shown in FIG. This ink cartridge has a structure in which the ink itself and a head for discharging the ink are integrated. An ID indicating the type of the ink cartridge itself is also recorded. Figure 8-3
4 is the control of the head and I
Control line for reading D.

Reference numeral 36 in FIG. 8 denotes a commercial power supply provided to ordinary households. Reference numeral 37 in FIG. 8 denotes an AC adapter that converts the commercial power into DC 5 volts 38 shown in FIG. 8 and DC 24 volts 39 shown in FIG. 38 is used to operate 30 electronic components such as an MPU, and 24 volts is used to drive a motor such as 32 and a head in 35 ink cartridges.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 40 denotes an interface control signal for connecting 44 interface controllers to 25 printer control gate arrays. This is used by the 27 printer control gate array to detect the operating mode of the interface. Reference numeral 41 denotes a data bus for transmitting data received from the PC by the interface gate array 44 to the PC 27. This 44 interface controller provides data from 46 Centronics connectors and 55
It switches data from USB MPU. This switching is performed by 42 analog switches. The 44 interface controller is designed to always prioritize data from the 55USB MPU. That is, when print data is sent to both the USB B type connectors 46 and 51, which are the Centronics interfaces, the UBS side is always given priority and data from the Centronics side is not received.

This switching is performed using the status of the signal line from the 43 Centronics interface and the status of the 47 signal line. 45 is a data signal from the Centronics interface. Reference numeral 48 denotes a flash memory in which a USB MPU program for controlling the 55 USB interfaces is stored. As described above, USB has A type and B type connectors, and a PC or upstream device is connected to a 52 B type connector. Downstream equipment is connected via a 51A type connector. 53 and 54 are signal lines to 51 type A connectors and 52 type B connectors, respectively.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of personal computer 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 201 denotes a CPU, that is, a central processing unit, which controls the entire computer and performs arithmetic processing. Reference numeral 202 denotes a ROM, that is, a read-only memory, which is a storage area for information on a system startup program and the like. Reference numeral 203 denotes a RAM, that is, a random access memory, which is a data storage area having no use restriction, and includes an operating system,
An area where programs such as a device driver and communication control are loaded and executed. A keyboard unit 204 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like for inputting data. 205, a CRT unit;
And the like, and a display control unit for controlling display on the display. Reference numeral 206 denotes an HD unit, which includes a hard disk and a disk control unit that stores and stores programs such as a printer driver program and various data related to a flowchart described later, and refers to or loads the data into the RAM as needed at the time of execution. An interface unit 207 controls communication with an external device such as a printer via a USB in the present embodiment. A system bus 208 serves as a data path between the above-described components.

Next, an operating system for executing a printer driver on the personal computer 200
Here is a brief explanation of the printing mechanism of Microsoft's Windows 95 (hereinafter referred to as OS).

Reference numeral 56 in FIG. 10 denotes an application, and the user performs operations such as editing a document using the 56 application. The user instructs the 56 applications to print the created document. A print instruction is given by designating a printer for printing from an application. FIG. 11 shows a screen on which an instruction is given. The name of the printer used is shown at 76 in FIG.

By specifying a printer, information on the characteristics of the printer is passed to GDI (57 in FIG. 10), which is a drawing process of the OS. Specifically, the information indicates whether color printing is possible or the size of paper used for printing. GDI 57 draws a document based on this information.
The result of drawing by 57 GDI is an OS-specific format, and this format can be used not only for printing but also for displaying on a CRT monitor or the like.

The output result of 57 GDI is inputted to 59 printer drivers. This printer driver is specific to each type of printer to be used, is usually provided by the printer maker, and is not provided by the OS vendor. this
59 The printer driver converts the output from the 57 GDI to optimize the characteristics of the ink used by the printer, and creates print data that sends them to the printer.

From here, the processing is divided into two depending on the printing method. One is via the first spooler, which is 60 in FIG. 10, and the other is via no spooler.

First, a method that does not pass through will be described.
59 The print data created by the printer driver is 62 GDI 32
Passed to The 62 GDI 32 is an interface-like module of the spooler process and 59 printer drivers. This is because 59 printer drivers are 16-bit applications and 63 spooler processes are 32-bit applications. Normally 16bit application is 3
Cannot call directly with 2bit application. Therefore, 62 GDIs 32 having both a part called from a 16-bit application and a part called from a 32-bit application are required.

The print data sent to the 63 spooler process via the 62 GDI 32 is temporarily recorded in the 65 second spooler. After spooling of the print data is completed, the spool process at 63 reads the print data from the second spooler at 65 and sends it to the Language Monitor at 69. This 6
9 The Language Monitor detects the status of the printer, for example, a condition in which print data cannot be received due to running out of print paper, etc., and notifies the user if necessary, or sends the print data to the printer. Start sending
It also has the role of a gate that controls stopping.

Since the printer embodying the present invention uses USB as its interface, 69 Language Monitors
Send print data to USB port of PC. Since the port itself is hardware, the module that directly controls the port is executed not in Ring 3 where the printer driver is executed, but in Ring 0 called a privileged mode. Ring3
Since the side application and module cannot directly access the Ring 0 side module, the 70 USB port monitor virtualizes the 75 USB port, which is hardware, to the module in Ring 3 . Ring
By accessing the 70 USB port monitor, the module on the third side can achieve the same result as accessing the hardware directly. 70 USB port monitors are 7
Access the WIN32 API provided by OS 1. This module bridges Ring 3 and Ring 0.

The device driver of the USB hardware 75 is provided by the OS vendor. The 74 USB common drivers are modules that directly control USB hardware. 74 By integrating the functions provided by the USB common driver,
The 72 USB printer drivers provide printer features. 72 USB printer drivers, 71
By sending the print data sent via the WIN32 API to the USB common driver 74, the print data finally arrives at the printer and is printed by the printer.

Next, a description will be given of the printing method of the method via the 60 first spooler.

The printing method via the first spooler is a case where background printing, which is 77 in FIG. 12, is selected. By passing through the first spooler 60, the printing operation in the application is completed earlier than in the case where the print job does not pass through the first spooler.

The display method of the screen shown in FIG.
FIG. 14 is displayed on the screen when the property button 761 is pressed by the mouse, and the print control 86 is selected.
12 is displayed.

The printer driver 59 sends the created print data to the first spooler 60. Next, when the multi-printer print mode is not set, that is, when there is no check mark at 78 in FIG. 12, the backgrounder of 61 sends the spooled print data to the spool process of 63. Then, the print data is sent to the printer designated at 76 in FIG. 11 and printed. The following is the same as the process already described.

On the other hand, when 78 multi-printer printing is set, the 61 backgrounder reads the print data from the 60 first spooler and sends it to the 66 multi-printer controller. In order to distribute print data to a plurality of printers for printing, the multi-printer controller divides the print data into pages in accordance with the number of available printers. Divided print data is created for each assigned printer
Sent to 68 USB output tasks. For example, if there are three usable printers, three 68 USB output tasks are created.

On the other hand, 63 spooler processes are created for each port to which a printer is connected. For example, four printers are USBPRN01, USBPRN02, USBPRN03, USBP
When connected to RN04, four spooler processes are also created for each port.

Port names such as USBPRIN01 are shown in FIG.
In order to distinguish the cascade-connected printers, the name is given for convenience, and there is only one actual USB interface. The printer management method in the OS is a method in which one printer is connected to each port. Therefore, a method of identifying a printer at the OS level as a destination of print data is performed using a port name.

The 68 USB output task sends the divided print data to the 63 spooler process created for each port. The following processing is the same as the processing described above.

FIG. 13 shows a case where three printers are connected. As already explained, 79 in FIG.
, But three spoolers are created for each printer. Also, three 81 spooler processes corresponding to 63 are created. Similarly, a process corresponding to the status of the printer is performed 69
As shown in 82, three Language monitors are also created.

However, as described above, since there is only one entity of the interface as USB, there is only one module such as a driver related to USB regardless of the number of connected printers.

Next, a method of determining a usable printer by the multi-printer controller 66 will be described. This is explained using FIG. 13 83 to 66, 84 to
This is the same module as 58. 85 (53) is Informat
The ion Center, whose role is to collect information about connected printers. The information to be collected is the type of the installed ink cartridge. As described above, the three types of ink cartridges shown in FIG. 6 can be mounted on the printer of FIG. 1 embodying the present invention.

When printing a document, the user selects an item matching the characteristics of the document from the portion indicated by 84 in FIG. By selecting these items, the printer driver 59 creates print data having the corresponding information. For example, when printing a color image with actual photographic quality, select Super Photo 84, and when printing a normal document, select the document at the left end of 84,
Print data suitable for each purpose is created.

However, depending on the type of the installed ink cartridge, the created print data may not be printed. For example, if you select a document at 84,
It is necessary to mount the ink cartridge 13 in FIG. (However, if color printing is not required, printing is possible even when 11 in FIG. 6 is attached.) On the other hand, when Super Photo is selected in 84, 13 in FIG.
Must be installed. In this case 11 or
If 12 is installed, printing will not be performed correctly.

For this purpose, the multi-printer controller 83 first obtains, from the information center 84, information on the cartridges attached to each printer before distributing the print data to a plurality of printers.
An available printer is determined by comparing this with information on the type of data recorded in the header part of the print data.

The information manager 84 obtains the type of the ink cartridge mounted on the printer by sending a command for detecting the type of the dedicated ink cartridge to the printer. These commands are described below. As a command (PC → Printer) to ask the type of the installed cartridge, `` ES
K [K 0000H 00006H HEAD ?; "

ESK is 13H. In addition, 0000H and 0006 represent hexadecimal numbers indicating the number of bytes of data following this.

As a command (printer → PC) for responding to the type of the installed cartridge, “ESCK [K
0000H 00006H HEAD = n "exists.

In n, a numerical value corresponding to the type of head is entered.
Is 1 for 11 in FIG. 6, 3 for 12 and 2 for 13
Enters.

The Information Center 84 sends this command to each port every time there is a request from the multiport printer controller 83 to obtain information on the cartridges mounted in each printer, and obtains the cartridge information. To 83 multi-printer controllers.

The processing of the 83 multi-printer controller will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the maximum number of connectable printers is four. Shown below is a printer information structure for storing information about each printer.

The printer information structure is represented as follows.

PortNumber which is a member name of the structure is
Port name 1 for convenience such as USBPRN01, USBPRN02
Alternatively, a numerical value indicating a number such as 2 is stored. For the cartridge type, any value from 1 to 3 is stored. 1 when the black ink cartridge 11 shown in FIG. 6 is installed, 2 when the color ink cartridge 13 shown in FIG. 6 is installed, and 2 for the superphotograph 12 shown in FIG. When a cartridge is mounted, 3 is stored. Using this structure, PR
INTER_INFO Secure an area for 4 printers as in PrtInfo [4]. Start address of this reserved area
Information Center with (& PrtInfo) as input parameter
And if there is a printer available, In
formationCenter stores that information in this structure. The return value from the Information Center is the number of available printers.

As described above, the print data from the 56 applications is once stored in the first spooler process, and then read out by the 61 backgrounder and sent to the 66 multi-printer controller. This multi-printer controller is started by a backgrounder before actually sending print data. After being activated, it waits in S1 for print data to be sent from the backgrounder. When the print data is sent, an area for storing information of the printer connected in S2 is secured. As already mentioned, the maximum number of connected printers is four. Access the Information Center in S3 to get information about the printer. Informatio
n Center stores necessary data in the printer information structure, and returns the number of available printers as a return value. Here, the usable printer indicates whether or not the printer can perform printing. For example, a printer that has not been turned on or a printer in which some trouble has occurred does not correspond to a usable printer. If there is no usable printer (the number of usable printers is stored in the variable M), an error message shown in FIG. 16 is displayed. Here the user can select O
Either K or cancel. If it is determined in S7 that OK is pressed, the printer information is acquired again in S3. Therefore, before pressing OK, the user needs to eliminate the cause of the inability to start printing. If the obstacle cannot be removed, it is possible to press Cancel. In this case, the process proceeds to S8 and the process ends.

In S5, 66 USB output tasks are generated for the number corresponding to the number of usable printers. In S10, control parameters are initialized. N is a parameter for controlling the order of printers to be used, and P is a parameter for controlling the number of pages to be printed. In step S11, the print data and the type of the cartridge mounted on the printer are determined, and a printer that actually sends the print data is selected.

When the print data is created on the assumption that the print data is printed by the black cartridge, the black ink cartridge 11 shown in FIG. 6 and the color ink cartridge 13 can be used. Therefore, the Cart of the printer information structure
If the value of the ridgeType is 1 or 2, and the value indicating the type of the cartridge of the print data is 1, the printer is determined to be usable in S12, and the process proceeds to S13. If the value indicating the cartridge type of the print data is 2, use CartridegeT
The process proceeds to S13 only when the value of ype is 2. Similarly, if the value indicating the print data cartridge is 3, CartridgeTy
Only when the value of pe is 3, the process proceeds to S13. In S13, a port number is acquired from the printer information structure, and the print data of the page indicated by P is sent to the USBPRN0X (X is an actual numerical value from 1 to 9) indicated by the number. In S14, the value of N is increased to select the next printer. However, if the number of printers connected in S15 is exceeded, S
Return to the first printer number again at 16. Next, in S17, it is determined whether the page is the last page. If the last page has already been sent to the USB output task, the process ends. If it is not the last page, the value of the super parameter P indicating the page is incremented by 1 in S18, and the process returns to S11 for cartridge determination again.

If it is determined in step S12 that the printer is not usable, the processing in steps S20, S21, and S22 is performed in order to determine the type of cartridge installed in the next printer without sending out print data. Proceed to.

The print data divided into pages and distributed to each printer sent to the USB output task 831 is sent to 81 spooler processes generated for each printer. The 81 spooler process, as already explained,
The print data is temporarily stored in the second spooler 79, and after storage, the data is sent to the Language Monitor 82.
The subsequent processing and the processing after the port monitor 70 are as described above.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment of the present invention, in the processing from S11 to S13 in FIG. 15, a printer which can be used is determined based on the type of the cartridge mounted on the printer. A method to determine whether or not was given.

In the embodiment of the second invention, a method of performing printing from a printer equipped with a black ink cartridge when there is no printer equipped with a color cartridge will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Will be described. Steps S23 to S30 are the same as those in the first embodiment of the present invention. In S32, control parameters N, P,
B and E are each initialized to 0. N and P are Embodiment 1 of the invention
However, B is a control flag for performing printing of print data including color even with the black ink cartridge. E is a flag that is set when printing is performed.It is possible to print some data from a printer that has a black cartridge installed, even if there is a printer that has a color ink cartridge installed. Is a flag for preventing It is common practice to print color data using a black ink cartridge for test printing or the like. This is because black ink cartridges are generally less expensive than color ink cartridges.

From the relationship between the type of print data and the installed ink cartridge, whether or not printing is possible is determined in S34 as described in the first embodiment of the present invention.

If there is a printable printer,
In S36, 1 is set to E. If it is determined that the printer is not a printable printer, the process proceeds to S42. This determination is for starting printing if no printer has a color ink cartridge after determining the types of cartridges mounted in all printers. Therefore, by the time all printers have been checked, the determination here proceeds to S43. If all printers have been checked and print data has never been sent to the USB output task,
Proceed to. Here, by setting 1 to B, printing from the black ink cartridge is permitted. Thereafter, in the determination of S42, if B is 1 and the type of the installed cartridge is 1 black ink cartridge, the print data is sent to the USB output task regardless of the type of the print data, and the printer outputs the print data. Printing is performed.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the slow printing speed of the ink jet printer can be solved.

Specifically, by connecting a plurality of inkjet printers to one PC and using them simultaneously, the printing throughput can be increased.

The printer used in the present invention is a USB (Universal)
This is a printer that uses Serial Bus) as an interface. USB is a high-speed serial bus with a transfer speed about 10 times that of the conventional Centronics interface. Another feature of USB is that it is possible to cascade USB devices.

At present, the USB is mounted on the host PC as a standard, and there is no need to add any special hardware.

Incidentally, conventionally, a method of using a network to access a plurality of printers is generally used. However, these require a device for the PC to access the network, a device for connecting the printer to the network, and the like.

However, in the case of the present invention, there is no need to add a device to access the USB, which is a decisive difference from the case where a network is used.

In addition, by connecting a plurality of ink jet printers employing a high-speed serial bus capable of cascade connection as an interface, not only the problem that the conventional printing speed is slower than that of the page printer, but also It is possible to provide a function of automatically selecting an optimum printer from a plurality of connected printers. In particular, when there are multiple types of ink cartridges that can be installed, it is usually necessary to open the front cover of the printer and check the type of the ink cartridge before printing because the ink cartridge is usually inside the printer housing that cannot be seen through. There were cases. However, according to the embodiment of the present invention, this trouble can be omitted, and operability for the user can be improved.

In this embodiment, an ink jet printer is used. However, the present invention can be applied to other print type printer drivers such as a laser beam printer, a thermal printer, and an LED printer.

The IEEE 139 is used as a serial bus.
This embodiment can also be realized by using 4 or the like.

[0078]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
High-speed printing can be performed using a plurality of printers.

Further, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a storage medium capable of sorting and transferring print data according to the characteristics of a connected printer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the printer.

FIG. 3 is an external view of a USB cable which is an interface of the printer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a USB connector on the back of the PC.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an image in which four printers are connected in a cascade.

FIG. 6 is an external view of three types of cartridges that can be mounted on a printer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method of attaching and detaching these cartridges.

FIG. 8 is an electric circuit block diagram of the printer.

FIG. 9 is a hardware configuration diagram of a personal computer.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a printer driver created for the printer of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a dialog displayed when printing is performed from an application using the printer driver described above.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating items related to print control among the above-described setting items.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a printer driver showing a case where FIG. 9 is printed from three printers.

FIG. 14 is a main (main setting content) diagram which is a dialog for setting the type of data to be printed by the user and which is a part of the setting items in FIG. 11 described above.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a part related to the multi-printer control according to the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a dialog displayed when there is no usable printer.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of the second embodiment of the invention.

Claims (30)

[Claims] 1. Creating means for creating a number of spoolers according to the number of connected printers, allocating means for allocating print data to each spooler created by the creating means, and allocating print data to each spooler by the allocating means. A transfer unit for transferring the allocated print data to a corresponding printer. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an acquisition unit for acquiring characteristics of the connected printer, wherein the allocating unit allocates print data based on the characteristics of the printer acquired by the acquisition unit. The information processing device according to 1. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the characteristic is a type of the ink cartridge mounted on the printer. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the allocating unit allocates the print data to a spooler of a printer having characteristics that match the contents of the print data, based on the characteristics acquired by the acquiring unit. 5. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the allocating unit allocates to a spooler of the printer that does not match, based on the characteristics acquired by the acquiring unit, when there is no printer having characteristics matching the contents of the print data. The information processing device according to claim 2. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printers are cascaded. 7. A printing apparatus, comprising: a designation unit for designating multi-printer printing, wherein, when multi-printer printing is designated by the designation unit, the creation unit creates a number of spoolers corresponding to the number of connected printers. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is created. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print data allocated by the allocation unit is print data in page units. 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of connected printers. 10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a personal computer. 11. A creating step of creating a number of spoolers according to the number of connected printers, an allocating step of allocating print data to each spooler created by the creating step, and an allocating step for each spooler by the allocating step. A transfer step of transferring the allocated print data to a corresponding printer. 12. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising an acquiring step of acquiring characteristics of the connected printer, wherein the allocating step allocates print data based on the characteristics of the printer acquired by the acquiring step. The information processing method according to 1. 13. The information processing method according to claim 12, wherein the characteristic is a type of the ink cartridge mounted on the printer. 14. The information processing method according to claim 12, wherein, in the allocating step, based on the characteristic acquired in the acquiring step, the information is allocated to a spooler of a printer having characteristics that match the contents of the print data. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the allocating step, based on the characteristics acquired in the acquiring step, if there is no printer having characteristics that match the contents of the print data, the printer is assigned to a spooler of the printer that does not match. The information processing method according to claim 12. 16. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein said printers are cascaded. 17. A multi-printer printing designating step, wherein when the multi-printer printing is designated by the designation step, the creating step includes the step of creating a number of spoolers corresponding to the number of connected printers. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein the information processing method is created. 18. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein the print data allocated in the allocating step is print data in page units. 19. The connection information processing method is performed by a printer driver program.
The information processing method according to 1. 20. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein said information processing method is performed by a personal computer. 21. A creating step of creating a number of spoolers corresponding to the number of connected printers, an allocating step of allocating print data to each spooler created by the creating step, and an allocating step for each spooler by the allocating step. A transfer step of transferring the allocated print data to a corresponding printer. 22. An image forming apparatus comprising: an acquiring step of acquiring characteristics of a connected printer; and the allocating step allocates print data based on the characteristics of the printer acquired by the acquiring step. 21
The storage medium according to the above. 23. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein the characteristic is a type of an ink cartridge mounted on the printer. 24. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein, in the allocating step, based on the characteristic acquired in the acquiring step, the assignment is performed to a spooler of a printer having a characteristic that matches the content of the print data. 25. The method according to claim 25, wherein in the allocating step, based on the characteristics acquired in the acquiring step, if there is no printer having characteristics that match the content of the print data, the printer is assigned to a spooler of the printer that does not match. The storage medium according to claim 22. 26. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein said printers are connected in cascade. 27. A designating step for designating multi-printer printing, and in a case where multi-printer printing is designated by the designating step, the creating step includes a step of creating a number of spoolers corresponding to the number of connected printers. 22. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein the storage medium is created. 28. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein the print data allocated in the allocation step is print data in page units. 29. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein said program is a printer driver program. 30. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein said program is executed by a personal computer.