JP2008093947A - Printing device and printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique of obtaining a different printing result depending on a storage location of a printing script. <P>SOLUTION: A printing device is formed of: a receiving section of receiving a printing request inclusive of address information of a reference destination of the printing script, from a client; an acquiring section of acquiring the printing script from the reference destination, based on the printing request; a determining section of determining whether or not the address information of the reference destination conforms to address information of the client; and a printing execution section of executing printing, based on the printing script. If the address information of the reference destination conforms to the address information of the client, the printing execution section executes first processing, and if the address information of the reference destination does not conform to the address information of the client, the printing execution section executes second processing that is different from the first processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for printing a printing content based on a printing script.

  In recent years, a system has been proposed in which a script describing printing content (hereinafter referred to as a “printing script”) is transmitted from a client such as a personal computer or a digital television receiver to a printing apparatus to print the printing content. Has been. Examples of such a printing script include a script compliant with XML (eXtensible Markup Language) such as an XHTML-Print script (see Patent Document 1 below).

JP 2004-318854 A

  In a printing system that prints content for printing based on a script for printing, as a method for the printing apparatus to acquire the script for printing, in addition to the method for receiving and acquiring the script for printing from the client as described above, Such a method may be used. That is, the client notifies the storage location of the print script in the print request to the printing apparatus, and the printing apparatus acquires the print script from the notified storage location. When such a printing script acquisition method is employed, the printing script storage destination is not limited to the client, and may be another device (for example, a content server) different from the client.

  Conventionally, even if the storage location of the print script is a client or a device that is different from the client that made the print request, if the contents of the acquired print script are the same, The same printing result was obtained by executing the printing process. Therefore, it has been difficult to obtain different processing results depending on the storage location of the print script.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of obtaining different processing results depending on a storage location of a print script.

  In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus connected to a client via a network, and receives a print request including address information of a reference destination of a print script from the client. A receiving unit; an acquisition unit that acquires the script for printing from the reference destination based on the print request; a determination unit that determines whether the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client; A print execution unit that executes printing based on the print script, and the print execution unit performs a first process when the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client. And when the address information of the reference destination and the address information of the client do not match, a second process different from the first process is performed. And summarized in that row.

  The printing apparatus of the present invention determines whether or not the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client, and executes the first process when the address information matches, and the address information Since the second process is executed when the two do not match, by specifying appropriate address information as the address information of the reference destination of the print script, the first process and the first process are performed according to the storage destination of the print script. Either one of the two processes can be selected and executed so that a different process result is obtained.

  In the printing apparatus, when the print request includes a specific command that is not standardized, the determination unit determines whether the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client, and the print When the request does not include the specific command, the print execution unit does not determine whether the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client, and the print execution unit includes the specific command. If not, the second process may be executed.

  With such a configuration, by configuring the client to transmit a print request including a specific command to the printing apparatus, the client can perform the first process and the first process according to the storage location of the print script. The client can select and execute any one of the two processes.

  The printing apparatus further includes a first script interpretation unit that interprets the printing script, and a second script interpretation unit that interprets the printing script, the first script interpretation unit and the first script interpretation unit. The script interpreting unit 2 is different in description contents that can be interpreted in the printing script, and the print executing unit is configured so that the first address information matches the first address information when the address information of the client matches. As the process, when the script is passed to the first script interpretation unit and the address information of the reference destination does not match the address information of the client, the script is converted into the second script as the second process. You may make it pass to an interpretation part.

  With this configuration, when the print script includes description content that can be interpreted by the first script interpretation unit, the print script is stored in the client and address information of the reference destination of the print script is stored. By specifying the IP address of the client, the description content can be interpreted by the printing apparatus. Similarly, if the print script includes description content that can be interpreted by the second script interpreter, the print script is stored in another device different from the client, and the IP address of this device is printed. By specifying it as the address information of the reference destination of the script, the description content can be interpreted by the printing apparatus.

  In the printing apparatus, any one of the first script interpretation unit and the second script interpretation unit can interpret a predetermined description content that is not standardized in the print script, On the other hand, the predetermined description content may not be interpreted in the printing script.

  With such a configuration, when it is desired to interpret a predetermined description content that is not standardized, a script that can interpret the description content of the first script interpretation unit and the second script interpretation unit. An IP address corresponding to the interpretation unit can be specified as address information of a reference destination of the print script. For example, when the first script interpreter can interpret the predetermined description contents and wants to interpret the predetermined description contents, the client IP address is specified as the address information of the reference destination of the print script. can do. On the other hand, when the second script interpreter can interpret the predetermined description contents and wants to interpret the predetermined description contents, the IP address of the client is used as the address information of the reference destination of the print script. Different other IP addresses can be specified. If the first script interpreter can interpret the predetermined description contents and does not want to interpret the predetermined description contents, the client IP address is used as the address information of the reference destination of the print script. Other IP addresses different from those can be designated. If the second script interpreter can interpret the predetermined description contents and does not want to interpret the predetermined description contents, the client IP address is used as address information of the reference destination of the print script. An address can be specified.

  The present invention can be realized in various forms, for example, a printing method, a computer program for realizing the function of the printing method or the printing apparatus, a recording medium storing the computer program, and the computer It can be realized in the form of a data signal including a program and embodied in a carrier wave.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in the following order based on examples.
A. First embodiment:
B. Second embodiment:
C. Variation:

A. First embodiment:
A1. System configuration:
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing system including a printer as an embodiment of the present invention. In the printing system 1000, a printer 100, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) 200, and a content server 300 are connected to each other via a local area network (hereinafter referred to as “LAN”) 50. It has a configuration. The LAN 50 may be a wired network such as IEEE802.3 or a wireless network such as IEEE802.11b / g / a. As the IP address, “192.168.1.1” is set in the printer 100, “192.168.1.2” is set in the PC 200, and “192. 168.1.3 ”is set respectively.

  The printer 100, the PC 200, and the content server 300 are network devices compatible with Universal Plug and Play (hereinafter referred to as “UPnP”, UPnP is a trademark of UPnP Implementers Corporation). Here, UPnP is an architecture that realizes connecting or disconnecting a network device to a network at an arbitrary timing. The UPnP network is composed of control points and devices. “Device” means a device that provides a service. In the present specification, unless otherwise specified, “device” and “service device” are used as synonyms. A “control point” means a controller that detects and controls other devices on the network, and functions as a client for the service device. In the printing system 1000, the PC 200 and the content server 300 function as control points, and the printer 100 functions as a service device to provide a print service to the control points. Note that the printing system 1000 may include other network devices that support UPnP and other network devices that do not support UPnP.

  The content server 300 stores image data 300a and a print script 300b (file name: SC152.htm). The image data 300a includes ground pattern data and data indicating a character string “copy prohibited” as a digital watermark. The print script 300b is an XHTML-Print script for printing the image data 300a.

  In the printing system 1000, when the user instructs the PC 200 to print an image represented by the image data 300a, a print request is transmitted from the PC 200 to the printer 100, and the image represented by the image data 300a can be printed. At this time, the image to be printed is either the image C1 in which the background pattern or the “copy prohibited” watermark appears, or the image C2 without the watermark. The user can designate which of these images C1 and C2 is to be printed on the PC 200. In the printing system 1000, when another PC (not shown) participates in the printing system 1000 and transmits a print request for the image represented by the image data 300a from the newly participating PC to the printer 100, the watermark is displayed. Only the image C1 in which is displayed is printed. That is, the printing system 1000 is configured so that only the PC 200 can select and print the image C1 or C2.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the printer 100 and the PC 200 shown in FIG. The PC 200 has a configuration in which a CPU 20, a hard disk 22, a memory 24, and a network interface unit 26 are connected by an internal bus. The hard disk 22 stores a print script 22a. The script 22a is a script for printing the image data 300a (FIG. 1) stored in the content server 300, and is an XHTML-Print script having the same description content as the printing script 300b (FIG. 1). The memory 24 stores an application program (not shown) relating to printing, and the CPU 20 executes the application program under a predetermined operating system, thereby functioning as the script generation unit 20a and the UPnP function unit. 20b and the network control unit 20c.

  The script generation unit 20a generates an XHTML-Print script that describes print content in response to a print instruction from an application (not shown). Note that the printing script 22 a is not stored in the hard disk 22 in the initial state, but is generated by the script generation unit 20 a according to a printing instruction from an application (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 22. The UPnP function unit 20b executes various protocols (HTTP, SOAP, GENA, etc.) defined by UPnP and functions as a control point in UPnP. The network control unit 20c executes a communication protocol such as TCP / IP.

  The printer 100 includes a control circuit 10, a printer engine 13, an operation unit 14 having buttons and a touch panel, a display unit 15 having a liquid crystal panel and the like, and a network interface unit 16. The printer engine 13 is a printing mechanism that performs printing based on print data. The control circuit 10 includes a print control unit 10a, a digital watermark processing unit 10b, an image processing unit 10c, a layout processing unit 10d, an XHTML interpretation unit 10e, a UPnP function unit 10f, and a network control unit 10g. ing.

  The print control unit 10a manages print jobs and controls the printer engine 13 based on print data to execute printing. The digital watermark processing unit 10b extracts a digital watermark included in the image data, and generates image data of an image in which the watermark appears. The image processing unit 10c executes an expansion process of an image compressed by a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) method. The layout processing unit 10d determines the arrangement of images and character strings based on the interpretation result of the printing script. The XHTML function unit 10e interprets an XHTML document described based on standardized specifications. The UPnP function unit 10f executes various protocols defined by UPnP and functions as a service device in UPnP. The network control unit 10g has the same function as the network control unit 20c in the PC 200.

  The UPnP function unit 10f corresponds to a reception unit, an acquisition unit, and a determination unit in the claims. The digital watermark processing unit 10b, the print control unit 10a, and the printer engine 13 correspond to a print execution unit in the claims.

A2. Printing process:
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure of print processing executed in the printer 100. In the PC 200 (FIG. 1), when the user instructs printing of the image represented by the image data 300a, the script generation unit 20a (FIG. 2) generates a print script 22a (file name “sc001.htm”) to generate a hard disk. 22. Note that the user selects either an image with a watermark or an image without a watermark and instructs printing. The UPnP function unit 20b transmits a print request to the printer 100 via the network control unit 20c. This print request is executed by “control” defined by UPnP. “Control” is a process in which the control point (PC 200) transfers a control message including an action request to the device (printer 100) to control the device, and is performed using HTTP / SOAP.

  In the printer 100, when the UPnP function unit 10f receives a print request via the network interface unit 16 and the network control unit 10g, the printing process illustrated in FIG. 3 is started. First, in step S405, the UPnP function unit 10f analyzes the received SOAP message of the print request.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a print request control message (SOAP message) transmitted from the PC 200 to the printer 100. This SOAP message includes a description part 50a indicating the requested action and a description part 50b indicating a script reference destination describing the content to be printed.

  The action name “SEC_CreateURLJob” is described in the description section 50a. This indicates an action of acquiring a print script from a reference destination described in the description unit 50b and performing printing. Here, in SOAP, “CreateURLJob” is defined as a standard action name for an action of acquiring a script from a reference destination and performing printing. Therefore, this action name “SEC_CreateURLJob” is a non-standard action name. The PC 200 is preset to use a non-standard action name “SEC_CreateURLJob” instead of the standard action name “CreateURLJob” as an action name for acquiring a print script from a reference destination and performing printing. As described below, when a specific print request is issued that includes such a specific non-standard action name, processing is different from when another print request that includes a standard action name is issued. Is executed.

  In the description section 50b, a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) including the IP address of the apparatus storing the print script is described as a reference destination of the print script. In the example of FIG. 4, the description script 50b refers to the print script 22a stored in the hard disk 22 (FIG. 2) of the PC 200. Here, in the PC 200, when the user selects an image without a watermark and instructs printing, the printing script 22a stored in the hard disk 22 (FIG. 2) of the PC 200 is described as a reference script. On the other hand, when the user selects an image in which a watermark appears and instructs printing, the printing script 300b stored in the content server 300 (FIG. 1) is described as a reference script. Therefore, the example of FIG. 4 shows a SOAP message when the user selects an image without a watermark.

  In step S410, the UPnP function unit 10f of the printer 100 determines whether or not the action specified in the received print request is a special non-standard print action. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the action name described in the SOPA message constituting the print request is the above-mentioned “SEC_CreateURLJob”.

  As described above, in the print request from the PC 200, the action name “SEC_CreateURLJob” is described in the SOAP message. In this case, the UPnP function unit 10f of the printer 100 matches the IP address of the reference destination of the print script described in the SOAP message of the received print request and the IP address of the transmission source of the print request. It is determined whether or not (step S415).

  As described above, when the user selects an image without a watermark and instructs printing, the printing script 22a (FIG. 2) stored in the hard disk 22 of the PC 200 is designated as the reference script. Therefore, the IP address of the reference destination of the print script and the IP address of the print request transmission source (PC 200) match. In this case, the UPnP function unit 10f of the printer 100 acquires a new job ID from the print control unit 10a and notifies the PC 200 of the new job ID (step S420).

  In step S425, the UPnP function unit 10f of the printer 100 acquires a print script from the reference destination specified in the SOAP message. In the example of FIG. 4, since the reference script is the print script 22a in the hard disk 22 (FIG. 2) of the PC 200, the UPnP function unit 10f acquires this print script 22a.

  In step S430, the UPnP function unit 10f of the printer 100 passes the acquired print script to the XHTML interpretation unit 10e. In step S435, the XHTML interpretation unit 10e of the printer 100 interprets the acquired print script and acquires reference image data. If the acquired reference image data is image data compressed by the JPEG method or the like, the XHTML interpretation unit 10e passes the image data to the image processing unit 10c to perform the expansion process. As described above, when the print script 22a is acquired, the XHTML interpretation unit 10e acquires the image data 300a from the content server 300 (FIG. 1) as reference image data.

  In step S440 (FIG. 3), the XHTML interpretation unit 10e of the printer 100 passes the acquired image data to the layout processing unit 10d, and the layout processing unit 10d determines the arrangement position of the image represented by the image data, and finally Print content is generated and passed to the print control unit 10a as print data. In step S445, the print control unit 10a of the printer 100 executes printing by controlling the printer engine 13 based on the received print data.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image printed by the printer 100 when the user instructs the PC 200 to print an image without a watermark. When the user instructs the PC 200 to print an image without a watermark, the IP address of the reference destination of the script for printing the SOAP message matches the source IP address of the print request. In this case, in the printer 100, the image data acquired in step S430 is transferred to the layout processing unit 10d without passing through the digital watermark processing unit 10b to generate print content. Accordingly, since the digital watermark is not extracted from the image data 300a, an image C2 without a watermark is printed as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, when the user instructs to print an image in which a watermark appears on the PC 200, the print script 300b stored in the content server 300 (FIG. 1) is referred to in the SOAP message transmitted from the PC 200 to the printer 100. Described as a script. Therefore, in step S415 (FIG. 3), it is determined that the reference IP address of the print script described in the SOAP message does not match the IP address of the print request transmission source. In this case, the watermark is extracted in the digital watermark processing unit 10b (FIG. 2), and the image in which the watermark appears is printed. Specifically, steps S460, S465, S470, and S475 are executed after step S415. Here, step S460 is the same processing as step S420. Similarly, step S465 is the same as step S425, step S470 is the same as step S430, and step S475 is the same as step S435.

  In step S475, when the image data 300a is acquired from the content server 300, the XHTML interpretation unit 10e of the printer 100 passes the acquired image data to the digital watermark processing unit 10b. The digital watermark processing unit 10b Is extracted to generate image data of an image in which a watermark appears (step S480). Thereafter, the above-described steps S440 and S445 are executed to print an image.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image printed by the printer 100 when the user instructs the PC 200 to print an image in which a watermark appears. When the user instructs the PC 200 to print an image with a watermark, the reference IP address of the print script in the SOAP message does not match the source IP address of the print request. In this case, in step S480 (FIG. 3), the image data 300a is transferred to the digital watermark processing unit 10b, and the image data of the image in which the watermark appears is generated. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, an image C2 in which a watermark appears is printed.

  The above-described steps S420, S425, S430, and S435 correspond to the first process in the claims, and steps S460, S465, S470, S475, and S480 correspond to the second process in the claims. In other words, the process that does not execute step S480 corresponds to the first process in the claims, and the process that executes step S480 corresponds to the second process in the claims.

  The above is the print processing procedure when a print request is made from the PC 200. Here, a process when another PC different from the PC 200 (hereinafter referred to as “general PC”) participates in the printing system 1000 and a print request is made in the general PC (not shown) will be described.

  Unlike the SOAP message of the print request from the PC 200 (FIG. 4), the standard action name “CreateURLJob” is described in the SOAP message of the print request from the general PC. Accordingly, in step S410 (FIG. 3), it is determined that the action designated in the print request is not a special print action other than the standard. In this case, the UPnP function unit 10f of the printer 100 acquires a new job ID from the print control unit 10a and returns it to the PC 200 (step S460). Thereafter, steps S465 to S480 and S440 to S445 described above are executed. Accordingly, since the digital watermark is extracted from the image data 300a in step S480, when a print request is made on a general PC (not shown), the image in which the watermark appears is printed.

  As described above, in the printing system 1000, by using a nonstandard action name in the SOAP message of the print request transmitted from the PC 200, the printer 100 determines whether or not the print request is transmitted from the PC 200. be able to. Further, by determining whether or not the reference IP address of the print script described in the SOAP message matches the print request transmission source IP address, the reference script is generated by the print script 22a generated by the PC 200. It can be determined whether or not there is. Since the printer 100 prints an image without a watermark only when printing is performed based on the print script 22a generated by the PC 200, the PC 200 designates the reference destination of the print script in the SOAP message. Thus, the presence or absence of a watermark in the printed image can be designated. In this way, in the printing system 1000, it is possible to limit the client that can make a print request by designating the presence or absence of a watermark to only the PC 200, and when a general PC makes a print request, the appearance of the watermark Therefore, unauthorized printing and unauthorized copying of images can be suppressed.

B. Second embodiment:
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing system according to the second embodiment. The printing system 1100 is characterized in that the content server 300 stores image data 300c (file name “IMG001.yyy”) in a unique format and that the printer 100a is provided instead of the printer 100 in FIG. Different from the printing system 1000 shown in FIG. Unlike the printing system 1000, the printing system 1100 can switch between a case where the image P3 can be printed based on the image data 300c and a case where the image P3 cannot be printed in response to a print request from the PC 200. It is configured. In addition, the image P3 cannot be printed from a client other than the PC 200 (general PC or the like).

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the printer 100a and the PC 200 shown in FIG. The printer 100 a is different from the printer 100 shown in FIG. 2 in that the first XHTML interpretation unit 11 is provided, and the other configuration is the same as the printer 100. The first XHTML interpretation unit 11 can interpret an XHTML document described based on a standardized specification, and can also interpret a predetermined nonstandard description described later. Here, the XHTML interpretation unit 10e shown in FIG. 2 is described as a “second XHTML interpretation unit 10e” in FIG. 8 so that it can be easily distinguished from the first XHTML interpretation unit 11. The first XHTML interpretation unit 11 corresponds to the first script interpretation unit in the claims, and the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e corresponds to the second script interpretation unit in the claims.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process procedure according to the second embodiment. In the procedure of the second embodiment, step S480 in FIG. 3 is deleted and step S430 is changed. Other procedures are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  When a user having the authority to print an image in a unique format (hereinafter also simply referred to as “authority”) in the PC 200 (FIG. 1) logs in and instructs to print the image represented by the image data 300c, the script generation unit 20a. (FIG. 8) generates a printing script 22 a and stores it in the hard disk 22. The UPnP function unit 20b transmits a print request to the printer 100 via the network control unit 20c.

  Here, the UPnP function unit 20b describes different scripts as reference scripts in the SOAP message when an authorized user instructs printing and when an unauthorized user instructs printing. Specifically, when an authorized user gives a print instruction, the script 22a stored in the hard disk 22 (FIG. 2) of the PC 200 is described as a reference script, and when an unauthorized user gives a print instruction The script 300b stored in the content server 300 (FIG. 7) is described as a reference script.

  When the printer 100 receives a print request from the PC 200, the printing process shown in FIG. 9 is started. If the authorized user instructs printing, it is determined in step S415 that the IP address of the reference destination of the printing script (printing script 22a) matches the IP address of the transmission source of the print request (PC 200). Will be. Accordingly, the print script 22a is acquired (step S425) and passed to the first XHTML interpretation unit 11 (step S430a). In step S435, the first XHTML interpretation unit 11 interprets the script 22a.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the description content of the script 22a in the second embodiment. In this script, the image data 300c (FIG. 7) is referred to using the <img src> tag. Here, in the standard specification of XHTML-Print, JPEG, GIF (Graphic Interchange Format), etc. are defined as formats that can be handled as image data. Accordingly, the image data 300c (“IMG001.yyy”) having a unique format as shown in FIG. 10 is not originally handled as image data in XHTML-Print. That is, the part describing the file name “IMG001.yyy” as reference image data is a non-standard description. However, the first XHTML interpretation unit 11 is set in advance so as to interpret the description portion as describing the reference image data.

  Accordingly, since the first XHTML interpretation unit 11 can acquire the image data 300c from the content server 300 in step S435, the subsequent steps S440 and S445 are executed, and the image P3 (FIG. 7) is printed. Become.

  On the other hand, when an unauthorized user gives a print instruction on the PC 200, as described above, the script 300b stored in the content server 300 (FIG. 7) is described as a reference script in the SOAP message. Therefore, in step S415 (FIG. 9), it is determined that the reference IP address of the print script (script 300b) and the IP address of the print request transmission source (PC 200) do not match. In this case, after the above-described steps S460 and S465 are executed, the script 300b is transferred to the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e (step S470). The script 300b has the same description as the printing script 22b shown in FIG.

  As described above, in the printing script 300b, the description portion that refers to the image data 300c using the <img src> tag is a non-standard description. Here, since the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e can interpret only the XHTML document described based on the standardized specification, it cannot interpret the description part. Accordingly, in step S475, the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e interprets the print script 300b ignoring the description part.

  Accordingly, in this case, the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e interprets that there is no image data to be referred to in the print script 300b, and therefore does not acquire the image data 300c. Therefore, printing content not including the image P3 (FIG. 7) is generated (step S440), and printing is executed (step S445), so that the image P3 is not printed.

  In the second embodiment, step S430a described above corresponds to the first process in the claims, and step S470 corresponds to the second process in the claims.

  The above is the print processing procedure when a print request is made from the PC 200. Here, processing when a general PC (not shown) participates in the printing system 1100 and a print request is made in the general PC will be described.

  In this case, as in the first embodiment, the standard action name “SEC_CreateURLJob” is described in the SOAP message of the print request from the general PC. Therefore, in step S410 (FIG. 9), it is determined that the action designated in the received print request is not a special print action other than the standard. In this case, steps S460, S465, S470, S475, S440, and S445 described above are sequentially executed. Accordingly, a script including a non-standard description is passed to the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e, so that the image data 300c is not acquired and the image P3 is not printed, as in the case where the user who does not have the above-mentioned authority instructs printing. It will be.

  As described above, in the printing system 1100, similarly to the printing system 1000 described above, by using a non-standard action name in the SOAP message of the printing request transmitted from the PC 200, the printing request is transmitted to the PC 200 by the printer 100. It is possible to determine whether or not it has been transmitted from. Therefore, when there is a print request from a client other than the PC 200, the image P3 can be prevented from being printed. Whether the reference script is the script 22a generated by the PC 200 by determining whether or not the reference IP address of the print script described in the SOAP message matches the print request transmission source IP address. It can be determined whether or not. In the printer 100, the first XHTML interpretation unit 11 interprets the script 22a only when printing is performed based on the script 22a generated by the PC 200, so that the image data “IMG001.yyy” in a unique format is acquired. Thus, the image P3 can be printed. Therefore, the PC 200 can control whether or not the image P3 can be printed by the description of the reference destination of the print script in the SOAP message. In this way, the printing system 1100 can limit the clients and users that can print the image P3.

C. Variation:
In addition, elements other than the elements claimed in the independent claims among the constituent elements in each of the above embodiments are additional elements and can be omitted as appropriate. The present invention is not limited to the above-described examples and embodiments, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist thereof. For example, the following modifications are possible.

C1. Modification 1:
In each of the above-described embodiments, the difference in the print processing according to the reference destination (storage location) of the print script is the presence or absence of the digital watermark extraction processing (step S480) from the image data 300a (first embodiment), Alternatively, it is possible to interpret the image P3 represented by the image data of the original format (second embodiment: steps S430a / S470), but it may be configured such that an arbitrary difference occurs in the printing process. Specifically, for example, when the reference IP address of the print script matches the transmission source IP address of the print request, the printer 100 executes color conversion using a special color conversion table, and these If the IP addresses do not match, a difference may be made such that color conversion is executed using a default color conversion table. If the reference IP address of the print script matches the source IP address of the print request, the printer 100 feeds paper from a print paper tray containing special print paper, and these IP addresses match. If not, a difference such that paper is fed from a printing paper tray containing general printing paper may be generated.

C2. Modification 2:
In each of the above-described embodiments, the printer 100 identifies whether or not the print request is a specific print request for which a special process is to be executed. However, instead of the print action name, other information in the SOAP message is used. It may be possible to identify whether or not the request is a specific print request. Specifically, for example, if a non-standard document format is specified in a description that specifies a document format of a SOAP message (a description specified by a <DocumentFormat> tag), it is a specific print request. You may make it identify.

C3. Modification 3:
In each of the above-described embodiments, the client that transmits the print request is the PC 200 or a general PC (not shown). However, the client is not limited to a personal computer, and any device that can function as a control point in UPnP. May be a client. Specifically, for example, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a digital still camera, a digital television receiver, or the like may be used.

C4. Modification 4:
In the first embodiment described above, when the reference IP address of the script for printing and the transmission source IP address of the print request match, an image C2 without a watermark is printed, and when these IP addresses do not match, The image C1 in which the watermark appears is printed. On the contrary, the image C1 is printed when the IP addresses match, and the image C2 is printed when the IP addresses do not match. Also good. Even in this way, the PC 200 can designate the presence or absence of a watermark in the print image by designating the reference destination of the print script in the SOAP message. In the second embodiment described above, when the reference IP address of the print script matches the transmission source IP address of the print request, the print script 22a is interpreted by the first XHTML interpretation unit 11, and these IP When the addresses do not match, the print script 300b is interpreted by the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e. Conversely, when the IP addresses match, the print script 22a is interpreted by the second XHTML interpretation unit 10e. When the IP addresses do not match, the printing script 300b may be interpreted by the first XHTML interpretation unit 11. Even in this way, the PC 200 can control whether or not the image P3 can be printed by designating the reference destination of the print script in the SOAP message.

C5. Modification 5:
In each embodiment described above, the image data 300 a and 300 c are stored in the content server 300, but may be stored in the PC 200. Alternatively, if the general PC participates in the printing systems 1000 and 1100, it may be stored in the general PC.

C6. Modification 6:
In the second embodiment described above, in the printing script, the non-standard description part is the format of the image to be referred to (FIG. 10), but any other description part may be non-standard. For example, “<SEC_IMG SRC>” that is a non-standard tag may be described as a tag for designating a reference image. In such a configuration, the first XHTML interpretation unit 11 may be set in advance so that the non-standard tag “<SEC_IMG SRC>” can be interpreted as a tag for designating a reference image. Even with such a configuration, the PC 200 can control whether or not the image P3 can be printed by specifying the reference destination of the print script in the SOAP message.

C7. Modification 7:
In each of the embodiments described above, the printing scripts 22a and 300b are XHTML-Print scripts, but may be printing scripts of an arbitrary format such as a MIME script. In this case, the printer 100 may be configured to include a script interpretation unit corresponding to the script format.

C8. Modification 8:
In the embodiment described above, a part of the configuration realized by hardware may be replaced with software, and conversely, a part of the configuration realized by software may be replaced by hardware. .

1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing system including a printer as one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a printer 100 and a PC 200 shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a procedure of print processing executed in the printer. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a print request control message (SOAP message) transmitted from the PC 200 to the printer 100. FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image printed by the printer when the user instructs the PC to print an image without a watermark. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image printed by the printer when the user instructs to print an image in which a watermark appears on the PC. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows schematic structure of the printing system in a 2nd Example. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the printer 100a and PC200 shown in FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of print processing according to a second embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the description content of the script 22a in a 2nd Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Control circuit 10a ... Print control part 10b ... Processing part 10c ... Image processing part 10d ... Layout processing part 10e ... (2nd) XHTML interpretation part 10g ... Network control part 11 ... 1st XHTML interpretation part 13 ... Printer engine 14 ... Operation Unit 15 ... Display unit 16 ... Network interface unit 20 ... CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20a ... Script production | generation part 20c ... Network control part 22 ... Hard disk 22a ... Script for printing 24 ... Memory 26 ... Network interface part 50a ... Description part 50b ... Description part 100 ... Printer 100a ... Printer 200 ... Personal computer 300 ... Content server 300a ... Image data 300b ... Script for printing 300c ... Image data 1000 ... Printing system 1100 ... Printing system C1, C2, P3 ... Image

Claims (5)

A printing device connected to a client via a network,
A receiving unit that receives from the client a print request including address information of a reference destination of a print script;
An acquisition unit that acquires the print script from the reference destination based on the print request;
A determination unit that determines whether the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client;
A print execution unit that executes printing based on the print script;
With
The print execution unit executes a first process when the address information of the reference destination and the address information of the client match, and when the address information of the reference destination does not match the address information of the client And a second process that is different from the first process. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
The determination unit determines whether the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client when the print request includes a specific command that is not standardized, and the print request is the specific command Does not determine whether the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client,
The print execution unit executes the second process when the print request does not include the specific command;
Printing device. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:
A first script interpreter that interprets the print script; and a second script interpreter that interprets the print script;
The first script interpretation unit and the second script interpretation unit have different description contents that can be interpreted in the print script,
When the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client, the print execution unit passes the script to the first script interpretation unit as the first processing, and the address of the reference destination When the information and the address information of the client do not match, as the second process, the script is passed to the second script interpreter.
Printing device. The printing apparatus according to claim 3.
Either one of the first script interpretation unit and the second script interpretation unit can interpret a predetermined description content that is not standardized in the print script, and the other is the print script. In the script for use, the predetermined description content cannot be interpreted.
Printing device. In a printing apparatus connected to a client via a network, a printing method for executing printing based on a printing script,
(A) receiving a print request including address information of a reference destination of the print script from the client;
(B) acquiring the print script from the reference destination based on the print request;
(C) determining whether or not the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client;
(D) executing printing based on the printing script;
With
In the step (d), when the address information of the reference destination matches the address information of the client, a first process is executed, and the address information of the reference destination does not match the address information of the client. In this case, the printing method is characterized in that a second process different from the first process is executed.

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