JP2007272857A - Device driver system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability and latitude of a peripheral equipment control by unifying setting and operations to a plurality of printer drivers by an integrated single user interface, and achieving customization on which the taste of a user is reflected when operating setting or operations from a user terminal to such peripheral equipment as a plurality of printers. <P>SOLUTION: On a user terminal 2, an unified user interface 103 which performs integral control to a plurality of printers 1a to 1c through a plurality of drivers 104a to 104c is executed, and setting information for each of the plurality of drivers 104a to 104c is acquired. In the user terminal 2, GUI corresponding to the classification of each setting information acquired by a setting acquisition part 108 is associated, and a dialog 22 in which control for a printer is made operable for each classification of each control is displayed on a display 21 of the user terminal equipment by the integral user interface 103. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a device driver system and a device control method for controlling peripheral devices such as a printer connected to a user terminal device.

  Conventionally, a system in which a plurality of personal computers and peripheral devices such as a plurality of printers are connected via a network and a necessary hardware resource is shared is becoming widespread. One of such systems is a network printer system. According to this system, a user can select an arbitrary printer from a plurality of printers existing on the network from a terminal such as a personal computer used by the user. The printing process can be executed by selecting.

Here, a printer driver corresponding to various printers is incorporated in the personal computer, and a printing instruction is given to the printer through this driver. That is, the specifications and control methods of each peripheral device vary greatly depending on the product, and an OS (Operating System) running on the user terminal cannot support all products alone. For this reason, peripheral device manufacturers provide device drivers for controlling their products, and users incorporate them into the OS to provide a bridge for the OS to control the peripheral devices (see Patent Document 1).
JP2003-271286

  As described above, since the driver software differs for each product, when issuing a print instruction to a printer, a user interface for starting a different printer driver and setting printing conditions for each printer to be printed It is necessary to input various setting information.

  However, when starting up a different user interface depending on the printer to be printed, the setting work common to each printer driver is also required, and the setting work becomes complicated. Because the setting items have different expressions, specifications, and standards, it sometimes caused confusion for users. Furthermore, since the preference for the operational feeling of the printer driver differs depending on the user, there has been a demand to increase the degree of freedom of customization for each user.

  Also, when a printer with a new function is introduced, the previous printer driver cannot be supported, and it is necessary to upgrade the printer driver together with the introduction of the printer, which is complicated. It was.

  Therefore, the present invention solves the above-described problems, and it is possible to customize settings and operations for a plurality of printer drivers to be unified and to reflect user preferences through a single integrated user interface. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device driver system capable of improving the operability for a plurality of peripheral devices.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a device driver system for controlling a plurality of peripheral devices connected to a user terminal device, which is executed on the user terminal device and performs operations of the plurality of peripheral devices. A plurality of driver software that respectively controls and a unified user interface that is executed on the user terminal device and that provides a single user interface that performs integrated control on each of the plurality of peripheral devices through the plurality of driver software. . The unified user interface is configured to acquire setting information for each of a plurality of driver software and a graphic operation unit that is displayed on the display unit of the user terminal device so that control of peripheral devices can be operated for each type of control. An acquisition unit; and an interface definition unit that associates a graphic operation unit corresponding to the type of each setting information acquired by the setting acquisition unit.

In this invention,
(1) On the user terminal device, through a plurality of driver software, execute a unified user interface that provides a single user interface that performs integrated control for each of a plurality of peripheral devices,
(2) Obtain setting information for each of multiple driver software from the user terminal device.
(3) In the user terminal device, associate the graphic operation unit corresponding to the type of each setting information acquired by the setting acquisition unit,
(4) A graphic operation unit that allows control of peripheral devices to be operated for each type of control is displayed on the display unit of the user terminal device by the unified user interface.

  According to the present invention, even when a plurality of driver software having different specifications and standards are installed, setting work for setting items common to each printer driver is provided by providing a unified interface. Can be performed smoothly and the operability of the user can be improved.

  In the above invention, it is preferable to further include an interface reconstruction unit that newly sets or changes setting information associated with the graphic operation unit and a display form on the display unit of the graphic operation unit based on a user operation. In this case, by allowing the user to freely customize, a user interface with a high degree of freedom reflecting the user's preference can be provided.

  In the above invention, the setting acquisition unit stores a keyword list indicating a correspondence relationship between the type of control for the peripheral device and the type of setting information for each control, and is stored on the user terminal device based on the keyword list. It is preferable to have a function of retrieving the set information. In this case, it is possible to automatically search for settings and setting files on the OS based on a keyword list provided in advance, and it is possible to make a unified interface more convenient.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when settings and operations for peripheral devices such as a plurality of printers are performed from a user terminal, settings and operations for a plurality of printer drivers are unified by a single integrated user interface. In addition, by enabling customization that reflects the user's preferences, it is possible to improve the operability and flexibility of peripheral device control.

(Configuration of printer driver system)
Embodiments of a device driver system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, a case where the device driver system of the present invention is applied to a printer driver of a network printer will be described as an example. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an overall configuration of a printer driver system according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the printer driver system, a plurality of printers 1 (1a to 1c) and a user terminal 2 are connected to a network 7. The network 7 is a wireless network such as a local network (LAN) or wireless LAN (WLAN) such as 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX using the communication protocol TCP / IP. For example, a home network such as a home network Is also included. The printer 1 (1a to 1c) is a network printer that prints print data received from the user terminal 2 through the network 7 in accordance with a print instruction based on a user operation.

  The user terminal 2 is an arithmetic processing unit equipped with a CPU, and can be realized by a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer or a dedicated device specialized in functions, such as a mobile computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), a mobile phone It may be.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the user terminal 2, and FIG. 3 is a functional block virtually constructed on the CPU 10 of the user terminal 2. As shown in FIG. The “module” used here is a functional unit that is configured by hardware such as an apparatus or a device, software having the function, or a combination thereof, and achieves a predetermined operation.

  As shown in the figure, a user terminal 2 includes a CPU 10 that performs various arithmetic processes, a hard disk 11 that stores data such as data and execution programs, and an external interface 12 that inputs and outputs data to and from the system. And an input interface 13, a communication interface 14 for performing communication via the network 7, and a bus 15 for connecting these modules.

  The external interface 12 is used to input and output various data. Specifically, the external interface 12 is generally used for display devices such as the display 21, flexible disk drive, CD-ROM drive, hard disk drive, etc. Devices can be used. The hard disk 11 is built in or externally attached to the system, and stores data input from an input device such as a mouse 13a and a keyboard 13b, and results of arithmetic processing by the CPU 10.

  The CPU 10 is an arithmetic unit composed of a processor, a memory and other peripheral devices. In particular, in this embodiment, the OS 101 is executed on the CPU 10, the application software 102 is executed on the OS 101, and the drivers 104 a to 104 c to 104 c that control the above-described units 11 to 14 are executed by the OS 101. Then, the unified user interface 103 is virtually constructed on the CPU 10 by starting a unified user interface program described later on the OS 101.

  This unified user interface 103 is a functional module that provides a single user interface (see FIG. 4) that performs integrated control for each of a plurality of peripheral devices through a plurality of driver software. As shown in FIG. The unified user interface 103 includes an interface reconstruction unit 105, a graphic operation unit 106, an interface definition unit 107, and a setting acquisition unit 108 as functional modules.

  The graphic operation unit 106 is a GUI (Graphical GUI) such as a tab control, a text box, a check box, a radio button, or the like that is displayed on the display 21 so that the control for the printer can be operated for each control type as shown in FIG. This module controls the User Interface. Specific controls for this GUI include display control on the display 21 and control related to GUI display changes based on user operations acquired through the input interface 13, and interface operation of operation signals acquired from the input interface 13. The transmission to the construction unit 105 and the interface definition unit 107 is included.

  In the present embodiment, these GUIs are in a form integrated into a dialog 22 displayed on the display 21. In this dialog 22, the individual interfaces of the respective printer drivers are integrated as tab controls 22a and 22b. At the same time, a tab control 22c is further added as a unified UI. By switching between these tabs, operations on individual printer drivers and operations on the unified UI can be performed on one dialog 22. As another form of the unified UI, for example, there is a form in which each printer driver is added in a tab format to a dialog executed individually.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of tab panels 23a to 23c are superimposed on the tab panel 23 of the unified UI, and the tab panel can be switched by clicking each tab control. . Each of the tab panels 23a to 23c is assigned “basic setting”, “detailed setting”, and “option setting” so that the level of detail of the setting can be changed according to the user's needs.

  On the basic settings tab panel 23, a paper size setting group 231, a printing direction setting group 232, a single-sided / double-sided setting group 233, a number-of-prints setting group 234, a layout setting group 234, etc. The GUI of related setting items is grouped.

  The setting acquisition unit 108 is a module that acquires setting information for each of a plurality of driver software. Specifically, the property information corresponding to the UI information (print setting information) of each printer driver, the registry 101a in which the setting data of the system and application software used in the OS 101 are recorded, and the DLL (generic program) Dynamic Link Library) 101b, search for text files (INF101c) that contain information (device names and their IDs, driver file names, etc.) to make the OS recognize hardware such as chipsets, and a unified UI Extract information about printer drivers that should be integrated into

The information retrieval by the setting acquisition unit 108 is performed based on a table data format definition list 11b as shown in Table 1.

  This definition list 11b is a database that is stored and held in the hard disk 11 or the like, and is read out by the setting acquisition unit 108 as necessary. As shown in Table 1, the item name of the setting information to be searched for and associated with the item Function / setting value, setting method (GUI control type), and general title character string (search character string) of the item are associated with each other. The definition list 11b can be edited by the user himself, and setting items and search character strings according to the user's needs can be freely set.

As shown in FIG. 5, the search by the setting acquisition unit 108 uses a GUI configured hierarchically for each driver, such as a plurality of controls grouped in a dialog in which a plurality of tab panels are superimposed. Search according to the hierarchical structure. In the example shown in FIG. 5, first, the tab control A1 is searched, the groups A2 to A5 belonging to the subordinates are searched sequentially, and the item names of the controls (text box, check box, radio button, etc.) included in each group And function / setting values are extracted. The setting information extracted in this way is temporarily stored and held in the hard disk 11 as a setting list as shown in the following table.

The interface definition unit 107 is a module that associates each GUI (graphic operation unit 106) on the corresponding unified UI with each type of setting information acquired by the setting acquisition unit 108. The setting information associated with each GUI is transferred to each driver 104a to 104c and used for controlling each driver. Specifically, as described above, the GUI (setting method, function / setting value) of each driver having a common function is associated with the “item name” in Table 1, which is the type of each setting information related to the unified UI, As shown in Table 3, it is stored and held as a reconstruction rule (unified UI information) 11a.

  The reconstruction rule 11a includes setting information (control type, default value, coordinate position) and the like necessary for displaying the GUI in addition to the functions and setting values for the printer driver associated with each GUI. Then, the setting information in the reconstruction rule 11a is transferred to the drivers 104a to 104c through the interface definition unit 107. In addition, when a plurality of arbitrarily selectable functions / setting values are extracted from the setting list shown in Table 2 (for example, when the user can arbitrarily select A3, A4, etc. when using), The setting value at the time of the latest use and the setting value according to the priority based on the usage frequency are held as default values.

  The interface reconstruction unit 105 is a module that newly sets or changes setting information associated with the graphic operation unit 106 and a display form of each GUI of the graphic operation unit 106 based on a user operation. An operation for the interface restructuring unit 105 is performed by a user operation through the graphic operation unit 106, and the reconfiguration rule 11a set / changed thereby is stored and held in the hard disk 11.

(Printer driver control method)
The method of the present invention can be implemented by operating the printer driver system having the above configuration. 6 and 7 are flowcharts showing the operation of the printer driver system according to this embodiment.

(1) Setting operation First, the setting procedure for the unified UI will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, when the unified user interface 103 is activated as a setting mode (S101), a search keyword is acquired from the definition list 11b (Table 1), and setting information is searched from the OS by the setting acquisition unit 108 (S102). ). This search is repeated for all drivers and all items. Next, a list (Table 2) of the retrieved setting information is created (S103).

  The interface definition unit 107 assigns (associates) GUIs to common functions from the setting list (S104). At this time, GUI settings (default values, GUI display mode settings) can be customized based on user operations (S105).

  As customization, the user selects a desired setting method for each item (for example, a pull-down menu method of A3, A4... For the item of paper size). In customization, in addition to the above method, a plurality of different setting methods are associated with each item (these setting methods include those not included in the UI information of each printer driver). The setting method is also displayed on the GUI so as to be selectable, and the user can include a plurality of other setting methods in a target for selecting a favorite setting method for each item.

  As a customization procedure, for example, a setting for an existing driver may be arbitrarily called, and this may be corrected as a template. Specifically, the UI information of each printer driver is called from the search result list and displayed on the GUI. The user selects one of the UI information and modifies it, so that the reconstruction rule (unified UI information) ) 11a is generated. Or, for the user, UI information of the printer driver corresponding to a printer with a large number of printed sheets or a cover printer with the number of print jobs (there is a counting unit that counts the number of printed sheets or the number of printing places) is automatically displayed on the GUI. By modifying this, the unified UI information may be generated.

  Next, the result of the allocation and customization of the GUI is stored and retained as the reconstruction rule 11a (S106). The reconfiguration rule 11a is updated when, for example, the user desires, when a new printer is provided in the printing system, or when the printer driver is upgraded. Thereafter, the unified UI is reconstructed using the reconstruction rule 11a and displayed on the display 21 (S107).

(2) Operation during use Next, a procedure during use of the unified user interface 103 set by the above-described procedure will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, when the unified user interface 103 is activated (S201), the reconstruction rule 11a is read (S202), and the UI 22 is reconstructed and displayed on the screen (S203). As a method of starting up and displaying the UI 22, for example, when generating document data using an application on the user terminal 2 and printing it, predetermined information (print instruction information, file printing) is displayed on the application. For example, a dialog 22 is displayed by inputting a tab. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, UI information of other printer drivers may be displayed as tags 22a and 22b.

  Then, when the user inputs print setting information and designates the printer (printer driver) according to the dialog 22, the designated printer driver is activated (S204). The interface definition unit 107 interprets which data in the search result list data corresponding to the printer driver corresponds to the print setting information input via the reconstruction rule 11a, and receives the interpreted data in the printer driver. Pass (S205).

  When the printer driver sends print instruction information (PDL data, print setting information (total number of pages, etc.)) to the corresponding printer based on the sent data, the specified printer driver performs RIP processing on the PDL data. And print processing is performed based on the print setting information (total number of pages, etc.) (S206).

(Example of change)
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change can be added. For example, in addition to the printer driver, a virtual printer driver may be installed in the personal computer. More specifically, in the above-described embodiment, a printer driver is selected by selecting a printer, and the setting information of the unified user interface 103 is changed as necessary. This virtual printer driver is based on the setting information. Reverse search for an appropriate printer driver.

  In other words, when print instruction information is input to the dialog 22 and a print instruction is issued, the virtual printer driver is automatically activated, and the printer driver whose input print setting information is within a predetermined printable range is automatically selected. Select and execute print processing through the selected printer driver. For example, when the number of printed sheets is between 1 and 100, the printer driver 104a is selected. When performing color printing, the printer driver 104b is selected. When the number of printed sheets is 100 or more, the printer driver 104a is selected. 104c is selected.

  According to this, the user can make print settings without being aware of the printable conditions of the printer to print, and can maximize the advantages of a network printer to which a plurality of types of printers can be connected.

(Unified user interface program)
The printer driver system and the printer driver control method according to the present embodiment described above can be realized by executing a program written in a predetermined language on a computer. That is, by installing this program on a computer such as a user terminal or a Web server or an IC chip and executing the program on the CPU, a system having the above-described functions can be easily constructed. This program can be distributed through a communication line, for example, and can be transferred as a package application that operates on a stand-alone computer.

  Such a program can be recorded on a recording medium readable by a general-purpose computer. According to the computer-readable recording medium in which the program is recorded, the above-described system and method can be implemented using a general-purpose computer or a dedicated computer, and the program can be easily stored, transported, and installed. It can be carried out.

(Action / Effect)
According to the present embodiment, even when a plurality of driver software having different specifications and standards are installed, by providing a unified dialog 22, setting items common to each printer driver can be obtained. Duplicate setting work can be omitted and user operability can be improved. Further, in the above-described embodiment, since the GUI settings can be customized based on the user operation, a user interface having a high degree of freedom reflecting the user's preference can be provided.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a printer driver system according to an embodiment. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a user terminal 2 according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a functional block virtually constructed on the CPU 10 of the user terminal 2 according to the embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen structure of GUI which concerns on embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the search procedure of the setting information which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the procedure at the time of the setting with respect to unified UI which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the procedure at the time of use of unified UI which concerns on embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

A1 ... Tab control
A2 to A5: Setting group
1 ... Printer
2… User terminal
7 ... Network
10 ... CPU
11a ... Reconstruction rules
11b ... List of definitions
11 ... Hard disk
12 ... External interface
13 ... Input interface
13a ... Mouse
13b ... Keyboard
14… Communication interface
15 ... Bus
21 ... Display
22 Dialog
22a to 22c: Tab control
23 ... Tab panel
23a-23c ... Tab panel
101 ... OS
101a… Registry
101b ... DLL
101c… INF
102 ... Application software
103 ... Unified user interface
104a to 104c ... Driver
105 ... Interface reconstruction part
106… Graphic operation section
107… Interface definition part
108: Setting acquisition unit
231 to 234 ... Setting group

Claims (3)

A device driver system for controlling a plurality of peripheral devices connected to a user terminal device,
A plurality of driver software executed on the user terminal device and respectively controlling operations of the plurality of peripheral devices;
A unified user interface that is executed on the user terminal device and performs integrated control on the plurality of peripheral devices through the plurality of driver software,
The unified user interface is:
A graphic operation unit displayed on the display unit of the user terminal device so as to be operable for each control type, with respect to the control of the peripheral device,
A setting acquisition unit for acquiring setting information for each of the plurality of driver softwares;
A device driver system comprising: an interface definition unit that associates the graphic operation unit corresponding to the type of each setting information acquired by the setting acquisition unit.   It further includes an interface restructuring unit that newly sets or changes setting information associated with the graphic operation unit and a display form of the graphic operation unit on the display unit based on a user operation. The device driver system according to claim 1.   The setting acquisition unit stores a keyword list indicating a correspondence relationship between a type of control for peripheral devices and a type of setting information for each control, and is stored on the user terminal device based on the keyword list. The device driver system according to claim 1, further comprising a function of retrieving the setting information.