Abstract: A printing control apparatus for controlling a stencil printing machine (50, 100), wherein a stencil sheet, which is made on the basis of image data, is wound around a printing drum (25; 125, 126) with which a print sheet (34; 141) is held in pressured contact to perform a stencil printing operation, provides the stencil printing machine with image data representative of an image to be reproduced as an object, and printing order information representative of a page order in which the printing operation is performed using image data, an ink color for the printing drum to be used, and a timing in which one printing drum is replaced with another one. In accordance with the printing order information, the ink color contained in image data is detected and an order for each page to be printed is determined on the basis of a user's print request to execute the printing operation according to the page order and to reduce the number of times the printing drum is replaced with.

Abstract: When printing is performed by a stencil printing machine, a designation display 25 of a message is displayed for prompting input of a message, thus enabling message information to be inputted thereto. Then, contents specified on the designation display 25 of a message are set as the message information, and message-added print data is transmitted to the stencil printing machine. Thus, in the stencil printing machine, the contents of the message are submitted to a user operating the stencil printing machine, separately from the print data.

Abstract: A printing control apparatus for controlling a stencil printing machine (50, 100), wherein a stencil sheet, which is made on the basis of image data, is wound around a printing drum (25; 125, 126) with which a print sheet (34; 141) is held in pressured contact to perform a stencil printing operation, provides the stencil printing machine with image data representative of an image to be reproduced as an object, and printing order information representative of a page order in which the printing operation is performed using image data, an ink color for the printing drum to be used, and a timing in which one printing drum is replaced with another one. In accordance with the printing order information, the ink color contained in image data is detected and an order for each page to be printed is determined on the basis of a user's print request to execute the printing operation according to the page order and to reduce the number of times the printing drum is replaced with.

Abstract: In a thermal head control method for thermally making a stencil master plate from a thermal stencil master plate sheet in the manner of a dot matrix for each line and forming an independent hole for each dot, a physical quantity representing the temperature of the thermal head, such as a time interval Ti for the plate making action by the thermal head for each line and a temperature actually measured from the thermal head, is measured before the plate making action of the next line. The measured temperature is compared with a prescribed value, and if the temperature is lower than the prescribed value, the thermal head is driven (pre-heated) at a power level which is lower than the rated power output and would not affect the thermal stencil master plate sheet. The effective heat emitting property of the thermal head is made uniform without regards to other factors, and a satisfactory perforation is carried out on a thermal stencil master plate sheet at all times.