Print control apparatus and method

Abstract

An apparatus includes a determination unit, a decision unit, and a print control unit. The determination unit determines, before a start of printing of a print job, whether the print job is to be printed on a second continuous sheet during execution of the printing of the print job. The decision unit decides, in a case where the determination unit determines that the print job is to be printed on the second continuous sheet, a print order of printing the print job on a first and the second continuous sheet in a manner such that sheets on which printing has been executed and are discharged are arranged according to page order. The print control unit causes a print unit to execute the printing on the first continuous sheet and the second continuous sheet based on the print job in accordance with the print order decided by the decision unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a determination unit configured to determine, before a start of printing of a print job, whether the print job is to be printed on a second continuous sheet, which is different from a first continuous sheet, during execution of the printing of the print job;   a decision unit configured to decide, in a case where the determination unit determines, before the start of the printing of the print job, that the print job is to be printed on the second continuous sheet during execution of the printing of the print job, a print order of printing the print job on the first continuous sheet and a print order of printing the print job on the second continuous sheet in a manner such that sheets on which printing has been executed and are discharged are arranged according to page order; and   a print control unit configured to cause a print unit to execute the printing on the first continuous sheet and the second continuous sheet based on the print job in accordance with the print order decided by the decision unit.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the decision unit decides the print order of printing the print job in a manner such that, in a case where one or more sheets made by printing the print job on the first continuous sheet and cutting the first continuous sheet by a cutter, and one or more sheets made by printing the print job on the second continuous sheet and cutting the second continuous sheet by a cutter are discharged to a same discharge destination, the discharged sheets are arranged either in an ascending order of page numbers or in a descending order of page numbers. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the determination unit determines that the print job is to be printed on the second continuous sheet during execution of the printing of the print job, the decision unit decides the print order of printing the print job to be different from page order of the print job. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a first specifying unit configured to specify a remaining amount of the first continuous sheet; and   a second specifying unit configured to specify an amount of a continuous sheet subject to be used for printing the print job thereon,   wherein the decision unit decides the print order of printing the print job based on the remaining amount of the first continuous sheet, specified by the first specifying unit, and the amount of the continuous sheet subject to be used for printing the print job thereon, specified by the second specifying unit.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 4 , further comprising a third specifying unit configured to specify to which pages the printing of the print job can be executed on the first continuous sheet, wherein the decision unit decides the print order of printing the print job based on a result of the third specifying unit. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein each of the remaining amount of the continuous sheet and the amount of the continuous sheet subject to be used for printing the print job thereon is a length of the continuous sheet. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the determination unit determines that the print job is to be printed on the second continuous sheet during execution of the printing of the print job in a case where a sheet shortage occurs during execution of the print job. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the print control unit causes the print unit to execute the printing on both sides of the continuous sheet in a manner such that the print unit continuously prints a plurality of image to be arranged on a first side of the continuous sheet and then continuously prints a plurality of images to be arranged on a second side of the continuous sheet. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising the print unit. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a cutting unit configured to cut the continuous sheet printed by the print unit into sheets by controlling a cutter. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein, in a case where the determination unit determines that data is to be printed on a single side of the continuous sheet, the cutting unit cuts the printed continuous sheet on a predetermined unit basis, and
 wherein, in a case where the determination unit determines that the data is to be printed on both sides of the continuous sheet, the cutting unit does not cut the continuous sheet on the predetermined unit basis in printing on a first side of the continuous sheet and cuts the continuous sheet on the predetermined unit basis in printing on a second side.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein, in a case where the determination unit determines that the data is to be printed on both sides of the continuous sheet, the cutting unit cuts the continuous sheet at an end of printing on the first side of the continuous sheet after completion of printing the data of pages to be arranged on the first side of the continuous sheet. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , further comprising a discharge unit configured to control receiving of the discharged sheets made by cutting the continuous sheet via the cutting unit. 
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 determining, before a start of printing of a print job, whether the print job is to be printed on a second continuous sheet, which is different from a first continuous sheet, during execution of the printing of the print job;   deciding, in a case where determining determines, before the start of the printing of the print job, that the print job is to be printed on the second continuous sheet during execution of the printing of the print job, a print order of printing the print job on the first continuous sheet and a print order of printing the print job on the second continuous sheet in a manner such that sheets on which printing has been executed and are discharged are arranged according to page order; and   causing a print unit to execute the printing on the first continuous sheet and the second continuous sheet based on the print job in accordance with the decided print order.   
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to cause an apparatus, capable of causing a print unit to print data on a continuous sheet, to perform a method, the method comprising:
 determining, before a start of printing of a print job, whether the print job is to be printed on a second continuous sheet, which is different from a first continuous sheet, during execution of the printing of the print job;   deciding, in a case where determining determines, before the start of the printing of the print job, that the print job is to be printed on the second continuous sheet during execution of the printing of the print job, a print order of printing the print job on the first continuous sheet and a print order of printing the print job on the second continuous sheet in a manner such that sheets on which printing has been executed and are discharged are arranged according to page order; and   causing the print unit to execute the printing on the first continuous sheet and the second continuous sheet based on the print job in accordance with the decided print order.