Patent ID: 8049906
Filing Date: 2011-11-01
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A print control system comprising: a print control apparatus configured to convert document data generated by an application into printing intermediate data, configured to convert the printing intermediate data into print data in a printer-processable form, and configured to generate an instruction for printing the print data; and a printing apparatus configured to print the print data based on the instruction for printing the print data, wherein the print control apparatus includes: (1) a print setting unit configured to set print setting information; (2) a converting unit configured to convert the document data into the printing intermediate data based on the print setting information; (3) a display unit configured to display information indicating the printing intermediate data converted by the converting unit; (4) a processing unit configured to process the printing intermediate data corresponding to a selection of the information indicating the printing intermediate data, by combining, editing, and/or deleting the printing intermediate data; (5) a preview display unit configured to display a preview of the printing intermediate data processed by the processing unit; (6) a changing unit configured to change an after-process of the print setting information set by the print setting unit; (7) a print preview display control unit configured to display a page of the preview based on the after-process of the print setting information that is changed by the changing unit; and (8) an instructing unit configured to instruct the printing apparatus to print the print data obtained by converting the printing intermediate data into the printer-processable format, using a print setting for printing the page of the preview based on the after-process of the print setting information that is changed by the changing unit, wherein the printing apparatus prints the print data based on an instruction from the instructing unit, wherein the print preview display control unit of the printing apparatus includes: a first print setting management unit to manage the print setting information of each set of the printing intermediate data that is an object of display at the preview display unit, and a second print setting management unit to manage the print setting information concerning a common setup, wherein, if the common setup is selected in the preview display unit, a change of the print setting in a setup screen is reflected by the second print setup management unit, and wherein, if the common setup is not selected in the preview display unit, a change of the print setup of each set of the printing intermediate data that is an object of display at the preview display unit is reflected by the first print setup management unit, and wherein the information indicating the printing intermediate data includes a plurality of items of information, which include a file name or a number of pages of the document data generated by the application, and wherein a printing mode includes a common setup mode, a job integration mode, and a normal mode, the common setup mode being a mode in which the common setup is applied to printing jobs that are separate from one another, the job integration mode being a mode in which printing jobs are integrated into one printing job, and the normal mode being a mode in which a printing-job-specific setup is applied to each printing job, and wherein the common setup made by the second print setting management unit is employed in both the common setup mode and the job integration mode.