1. Field of the Invention
The present technology relates to an information processing apparatus creating drawing data based on a printing job, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
So called production printing that is of printing service, in which a lot of documents for business use are printed or bound, is known (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-238188). In the Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-238188, a printing system for informing a user whether a post process is available or not, in view of the whole system, is disclosed.
In the production printing, a printing process is usually handled as a workflow, and opening of a printing workflow is proceeded with. By opening the printing workflow, it is possible to describe setting files, or the like for printing jobs in important printing processes, etc., by common format, in software (workflow applications, described below), or printers of different manufacturers. A standard format referred to as a JDF (Job Definition Format) is known, as a format for describing all the processes of the printing workflow.
There are various processes in the printing workflow, such as a process for creating documents or contents, processes for designating printing methods, printing processes, post processes, or the like. Although these processes are performed by various workflow applications or printers, cooperation or printing process management can be achieved between printers by the JDF.
However, some workflow applications or printers may extend the format of the JDF. In this case, the JDF provided by the workflow applications of the different manufacturers may include a description in proprietary format.
FIG. 1A is an illustration diagram for illustrating an example of an inconvenience in accepting printing jobs by a print processing device of a manufacturer “C”. Additionally, FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B shows an example of comparison, not an example of prior art. The print processing device of “C” receives printing jobs from workflow applications of a manufacturer “A” and a manufacturer “B”. It may occur that the print processing device of “C” cannot analyze the JDF to process since the respective workflow applications extend the format of the JDF.
Therefore, in order to accept the printing jobs of the respective workflow applications, the print processing device of “C” may have a rendering engines 59 (hereinafter, referred to as RIP engines 59) capable of JDF conversion and handling respective workflow applications. In FIG. 1B, a JDF analyzing unit 56 analyzes the JDF to determine the manufacturer of the workflow application, and converts the setting information so as to be processed by the print processing device of “C”. Also, the printing jobs can be processed to print with user's desired finished appearance, by installing the RIP engines 59 capable of handling respective workflow applications.
Thus, the print processing device of “C” can process the printing jobs to print with user's desired finished appearance, even if the respective workflow applications extend the format of the JDF.
By the way, a user may need to display or change contents of the printing jobs before rendering the printing jobs by the RIP engine. However, since settable attributes or settable range of values of the attributes may differ by respective RIP engines, the print processing device of “C” may not appropriately display the content of printing jobs of “A” or “B”. Further, an instruction, to change the value of the attribute into a value which is valid only for the printing job of “B”, may be accepted as an instruction for the printing job of “A”.
An example of aggregation printing imposition will be described. In the workflow application of “A”, only one of setting options for aggregation printing imposition of 2-up (2 pages are aggregated into 1 page)/4-up (4 pages are aggregated into 1 page)/9-up (9 pages are aggregated into 1 page)/16-up (16 pages are aggregated into 1 page) is acceptable, and the setting options are displayed as selectable options to accept one of the options. Meanwhile, in the workflow application of “B”, the aggregation printing imposition can be set by using a format of “M (number of pages in longitudinal direction)×N (number of pages in lateral direction)”, where any combinations are accepted as far as “M” and “N” are set within the respective limits.
In the workflow application of “C”, the same setting screen as that of the workflow application of “A” is used. If the print processing device of “C” displays the printing job of “B”, in a case where the aggregation printing imposition set as “M×N”=“1×2”, “2×2”, “3×3”, or “4×4” can be displayed respectively as 2-up, 4-up, 9-up, or 16-up. However, in a case where the combination of “M” and “N” is not one of the options shown above, the print processing device of “C” cannot appropriately display the setting information of the aggregation printing imposition.
To the contrary, a case, where the same setting screen as the workflow application of “B” is used in the workflow application of “C”, will be described. In this case, the print processing device of “C” can display the printing jobs of 2-up, 4-up, 9-up, or 16-up, and accept an instruction to change into any one of the combinations of “M×N”. However, in a case where the changed combination of “M×N” is neither “1×2” nor “M”=“N”, the rendering cannot be performed since the RIP engine of “A” does not support such an aggregation printing imposition.