JP2000035864A - Printing controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing controller whose operation is clear and whose versatility is high by transmitting data corresponding to a function judged by obtained information and starting the printing device. SOLUTION: A printing device peculiar information analysis part 112 obtains information peculiar to individual printing devices through a bi-directional communication interface 120 and an analysis result preservation data base 113 holds printing device peculiar information and makes it into a data base. Information on a printing indication is given to the printing device peculiar information analysis part 112 from a user, and information required for starting the printing device for executing printing as an instructed way is judged. Information which is judged by the printing device information analysis part 112 and is required for starting the printing device is obtained by a printing processing part 114. The printing processing part 114 generates printing document data based on this information, prepares printing document data and transmits the printing document data to and outer unit through the bi-directional communication interface 120.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a versatile print control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of print control apparatus, there is known a print control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-142457 shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a printing system using a conventional print control device. This FIG.
, The host computer 900 includes a bidirectional interface 901, application software 902, and a printer driver 903.
03 is capable of transmitting and receiving data via a bidirectional interface. The printing apparatus 905 includes a bidirectional interface 906, a CPU 907, a command analysis unit 908, a message storage unit 909, and an error monitoring unit 910. Data can be exchanged via a bus, and data can be exchanged via the bidirectional interface 906. Can be transmitted and received.

In the above configuration, when the printer driver 903 transmits data such as a document created by the application software 902 to the printing apparatus 905 together with the paper size data, the CPU 9 in the printing apparatus 905
07 receives these data and controls the command analysis unit 908 to recognize the print paper size and the like, and prints a document by a printing unit (not shown). Then, when an error such as an attempt to print on a paper size that cannot be selected occurs during this series of operations, the error monitoring unit 910 recognizes this error and transmits the corresponding error code to the host computer 900. If the printer driver 903 has a message corresponding to the error code, it displays the corresponding message on a display device such as a display (not shown). If the printer driver 903 does not have a corresponding error message, the message is stored in the message storage unit 909. A corresponding error message is received and displayed on the display device.

[0004]

In a printing system using the above-described conventional printing control apparatus, when the printing apparatus is replaced with a new model and the old printing control apparatus is to be used continuously, the printing is performed as described above. If an error message is held on the device side, a message that the print control device does not have can be displayed, but when the printer description language available for the replaced printing device and the printing device before the replacement are completely different, Older print controllers cannot be used. Further, when a new function that cannot be recognized by the old print control device is added to the replaced printing device, the old print control device cannot take out the new function.

Accordingly, in the former case, printing cannot be performed unless a printing control device corresponding to the description language of the replaced printing device is used, and in the latter case, the new printing device is not used unless a dedicated printing control device is used. No function can be extracted. Here, it is very complicated to install another print control device in the host computer every time the printing device is replaced, and when using a plurality of different types of printers using a network, the type of the printing device may be changed. There is a problem that the operation becomes very complicated when trying to use the same number of print control devices.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a highly versatile print control apparatus.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 provides a bidirectional communication means for exchanging information with a printing apparatus in two directions, and a communication means for communicating with the printing apparatus via the bidirectional communication means. A unique information acquisition unit for acquiring information unique to the printing device, a database creation unit for creating a database of the printing device by holding the printing device unique information, and a device for activating the printing device based on the database. A printing device information analyzing unit that determines necessary information; and a printing device control unit that transmits data printable by the printing device to the printing device via the bidirectional communication unit based on the activation information. There is a configuration.

[0008] In the invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, when the unique information acquiring means acquires information unique to the printing apparatus via the two-way communication means, the database creating means transmits the information. The database of the printing device is created by holding the database. When the database creating means creates the database of the printing device, the printing device information analyzing means determines information necessary for starting the printing device, and the printing device control means determines the information of the printing device based on the information. The printable data is transmitted to the printing device via the bidirectional communication means. That is, the printing device information analysis unit determines the function of the printing device based on the acquired information unique to the printing device, and can start the printing devices of all types by transmitting data corresponding to the function.

Here, the information unique to the printing apparatus means all information necessary to identify the printing apparatus and identify its function. As a specific example, the invention according to claim 2 is 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the database creation means includes a model name of the printing apparatus, an available printer description language, an available paper size type, an available option, and a printing standard. It is configured to acquire settings and make them into a database.

[0010] In the invention according to claim 2 configured as described above, the printing device information analysis means uses the model name of the printing device to determine which printing device information among a plurality of printing device information held in a database. Whether the printer corresponds to the printing apparatus is identified, and processing corresponding to the printer description language of the printing apparatus is performed using an available printer description language.
In addition, by acquiring an available paper size, a format that is not suitable for the printing apparatus cannot be selected, and a function unique to the printing apparatus is recognized by an available option. Furthermore, the standard setting at the time of printing makes it possible to print a format sufficient for a large number of users without any format setting. As described above, since all functions of the printing apparatus are recognized and controlled by the printing control apparatus, any type of printing apparatus can be started.

Here, the information held in the database is information unique to the printing apparatus and is not of a nature that is frequently changed. Therefore, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing control apparatus according to the first aspect, the database creation unit searches whether or not the unique information of the printing device to be acquired exists in a database, The configuration is such that the unique information of the printing apparatus already registered in the database is not acquired.

In the invention according to claim 3 configured as described above, it is determined whether or not the information of the same model name is already registered in the database by acquiring only the model name of the printing apparatus. If the remaining printing device-specific information is obtained only for the unregistered printing device, the information in the database is not overwritten each time the printing control device is driven.

[0013] However, as described above, although the printing device specific information is not frequently updated, the printing device information already registered in the database may be updated due to a function expansion of the printing device. is there. Therefore, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the print control apparatus according to the first aspect, the database creation unit is configured to, when the unique information of the printing apparatus is already registered in a database, to obtain the acquired information. It is configured to determine whether or not the print device specific information registered in the database has been updated, and if so, rewrite the print device specific information in this database with the updated acquisition information. .

In the invention according to claim 4 configured as described above, the database creation unit monitors whether or not the printing apparatus specific information already registered in the database has been updated, and the updated information is updated. In this case, new print specific information is obtained and the database is overwritten.

Here, as a specific example of monitoring whether or not the information registered in the database is updated, a fifth aspect of the present invention is provided.
In the printing control apparatus according to the fourth aspect, when it is determined whether the printing apparatus unique information has been updated, the presence or absence of new printing apparatus unique information is determined via the bidirectional communication unit. It is configured to monitor constantly, periodically, or in response to a user request.

In the invention according to claim 5 configured as described above, if it is constantly monitored whether or not a printing device is newly connected to the two-way communication means, the database information is immediately obtained when the printing device is connected. Is periodically updated to determine whether a new printing device is connected to the bidirectional communication means. Even if the information is updated, the database information is updated after a certain period of time, and the bidirectional communication means is updated. By monitoring whether or not a printing device is newly connected to the communication means in response to a user request, the information can be updated when the user wants to update the information. In addition, as described above, not only when the printing apparatus is newly connected, but also whether or not the printing apparatus specific information of the connected printing apparatus is updated may be constantly or periodically monitored. As described above, when the unique information of the connected printing apparatus is monitored, even when the function of the already connected printing apparatus is expanded, the information reflecting the expansion can be stored in the database. Therefore, it is possible to perform printing that reflects the setting of the function extension.

Further, in order to correspond to an arbitrary printer description language, the invention according to claim 6 is configured such that the database creating means holds a processing program of the printer description language in a database.

In the invention according to claim 6 configured as described above, it is possible to hold the printer description language used by the printing apparatus already registered in the database and to newly hold the printer description language. I have. For this reason, it is possible to cope with a printing device using a printer description language that is not registered in the database, and therefore, it is also compatible with a newly developed printer description language.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a print control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a host computer 100 is a computer that operates under program control, and can exchange information with an external device via a bidirectional communication interface 120 that can exchange information bidirectionally. In this sense, the bidirectional communication interface 120 constitutes the bidirectional communication means.

This host computer 100 is
S (Operating System) is driven as a basic program, and various application software (not shown) can be started based on the OS, and print driver software 110 is incorporated as one of them. The printer driver software 110 includes a printing device unique information analysis unit 112, a user interface 111, and a print processing unit 114. The printing device unique information analysis unit 112 further includes an analysis result storage database 113.

The printing device unique information analysis unit 112 can acquire information unique to each printing device via the bidirectional communication interface 120. The analysis result storage database 113 holds the printing device unique information. It is possible to create a database. here,
The printer-specific information acquired via the two-way communication interface 120 is stored in the analysis result storage database 11.
3 is determined by the printing device specific information analysis unit 112 based on the information stored in the database 3, and the information determined to be stored is stored in the analysis result storage database 113. Created as a database. In this sense, the printing device unique information analysis unit 112 constitutes the unique information acquiring unit.

The user interface 111 can display the information of the analysis result storage database 113 on an output medium such as a display (not shown), so that information such as the paper size necessary for printing is provided to the user. In addition to this, information from an input medium such as a keyboard (not shown) can be obtained, and information such as a print instruction is provided from the user to the printing apparatus unique information analysis unit 112. Then, the printing device specific information analysis unit 112 determines information necessary to start up the printing device in order to perform printing as instructed by the user. In this sense,
The printing device unique information analysis unit 112 and the analysis result storage database 113 constitute the above-described database creation unit, and the printing device unique information analysis unit 112 constitutes the printing device information analysis unit.

Further, information necessary for activating the printing device determined by the printing device information analysis unit 112 is obtained by the print processing unit 114, and the print processing unit 114 creates print document data based on this information. The print document data can be sent to an external device via the two-way communication interface 120. In this sense, the print processing unit 114 constitutes the printing device control unit. Therefore, the printer driver software 110 configures the unique information acquisition unit, the database creation unit, the printing device information analysis unit, and the printing device control unit, and the bidirectional communication interface 120 configures the bidirectional communication unit. In the example, the printer driver software 110 and the two-way communication core interface 120 constitute a print control device. When printing is performed, the printer driver software 110 and the bidirectional communication interface provided in the host computer 100 function as a print control device.

On the other hand, the printing apparatus 200 includes a two-way communication interface 220, printing apparatus control software 210, and a printing unit (not shown). It is connected to the communication interface 120 and can exchange information with the host computer 100. The printing apparatus control software 210 includes a printing apparatus control unit 211 and a printing apparatus specific information database 212.
And the printing device unique information database 2
Numeral 12 is capable of transmitting information specific to the printing apparatus via the bidirectional communication interface. When information specific to the printing apparatus is transmitted, the information specific to the printing apparatus is transmitted via the bidirectional interface 120. The information is acquired by the analysis unit 112 and can be stored in the analysis result storage database 113. Further, when print document data based on the user's instruction is obtained by the printing device control software 210 via the two-way communication interface 220, the printing unit (not shown) is controlled by the printing device control unit 211. This document and the like can be printed.

FIG. 2 shows a control flow of the database creating means and the printing apparatus information analyzing means when the printer A is newly connected as a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the printing control apparatus having the above-described configuration. The block diagram is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the information held in the analysis result storage database 313 is classified for each printer device such as the printer device A and the printer device B. For each classification, a model name, an available printer description language, FIG. 7 shows a state in which printing apparatus specific information such as types of possible paper sizes, connectable options, and standard settings for printing is stored in a database. The printing device unique information database 412 shows a model name unique to the printer device A, an available printer description language, available paper size types, connectable options, and the like. Further, a printing unit not shown above is shown as a printer engine 430 in FIG.

Further, in this embodiment, the bidirectional communication interface 320 is monitored by the printing device specific information analysis unit 312, and a newly connected printing device is recognized. In this case, control is performed according to the flow of FIG. 2 and when the printing device unique information analyzing unit 312 recognizes a newly connected printer, the printing device unique information analyzing unit 312 transmits the unique information via the bidirectional communication interface 320. An instruction is sent to the printer 400 to send it, and when a sending signal from the printer 400 is received, the information is analyzed to identify the model name of the newly connected printer (step A01).
When the model name is identified in step A01, it is determined whether or not this model name has already been registered in the analysis result storage database 313 to determine whether or not the unique information of the newly connected printer has been registered in the database. A judgment is made (step A02). If it is determined in step A02 that the unique information of the newly connected printer is already registered in the database, the information of the registered database is read (step A1).
0), a user interface 311 is created based on the information (step A03).

If it is determined in step A02 that the unique information of the newly connected printer is not registered in the database, the printer unique information analyzing unit 3
12 instructs the printer device 400 to send the unique information via the bidirectional interface 320 (step A20). As a result, the transmitted unique information is obtained (step A21), the result is analyzed (step A22), and the analysis result is stored (step A23), thereby creating a user interface in step A03.

The operation of the first embodiment configured as described above and following the above control flow will be described below. First, the user creates a document or the like to be printed using application software or the like on the OS of the host computer 300,
When printing, the printer driver software 310 is activated. At this time, the user interface 311 is activated, and the printer device setting information necessary for printing, such as the model name of the device to be printed, the type of available paper size, connectable options, and standard settings for printing, is displayed. The list is displayed on the display (not shown) or the like. The user selects a setting suitable for the printing from the display information, and inputs the setting through the user interface 311.

Here, the user can confirm which printing device is to be used for printing based on the model name of the device to be printed, and can obtain a usable paper size to determine a format suitable for the printing device. When the user obtains an appropriate option, the user can recognize a function unique to the printing apparatus. Further, when the standard settings at the time of printing are acquired, it is possible to print a format necessary and sufficient for a large number of users without performing any format setting.

Then, the user enters the user interface 3
When a print start is instructed by the user 11, the print processing unit 314 creates print data from the document or the like to be printed using the settings of the printing device selected by the user, and transmits the print data via the bidirectional communication interface 320. Printing device 4
Send to 00. When the printing apparatus 400 receives the print data via the two-way communication interface 420, the printing apparatus control software 410 prints the print data by the printer engine 430.

Here, since the setting of the printing apparatus is based on the function of the newly connected printing apparatus, it is impossible to select an impossible setting at the time of a new connection. By making all the functions of the printing apparatus at the time of a new connection into a database, the functions of the printing apparatus can be fully utilized.

Next, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the print control apparatus having the above configuration. In FIG. 5, printer driver software 510
A printer status monitoring unit 515 is incorporated in the printer, and the printer status monitoring unit 515 constantly or periodically monitors the printing device connected via the bidirectional interface 520, and print device specific information of the printing device. When the information in the database changes, the latest information is acquired, and the information in the analysis result storage database 513 can be updated.

That is, in the printing apparatus 600, as a function of the printing apparatus, A4, B4, and A3 paper sizes can be supported. B
When is unavailable, the printing device specific information database 612 is as shown in FIG. Since this information is monitored by the printer status monitoring unit 515, the data held in the analysis result storage database 513 reflects the unusable information as shown in FIG.

The control of the database creating means and the printing apparatus information analyzing means in the second embodiment follows the flow shown in FIG. When the printer status monitoring unit 515 recognizes that the printing device unique information has been updated, the printing device unique information analysis unit 512 issues an instruction to the printer device 600 to send the unique information via the bidirectional communication interface 520. When the transmission signal is received, the information is analyzed to identify the model name of the connected printer (step B01). When the model name is identified in step B01, it is determined whether or not this model name has already been registered in the analysis result storage database 513, thereby determining whether or not the unique information of the connected printer has been registered in the database. (Step B0
2).

If it is determined in step B02 that the unique information of the connected printer has already been registered in the database, the information in the registered database is read (step B10), and then the printer status monitoring unit 515 is read. Is a two-way communication interface 520
The printing device unique information database 612 of the printer connected via the printer is monitored (step B11), and it is determined whether the information of the printing device unique information database 612 has changed (step B12). This step B12
When it is determined that the information in the printing apparatus unique information database 612 has changed, the analysis result storage database 51
3 is updated (step B13), and a user interface 511 is created based on the updated information (step B03). On the other hand, if it is determined in step B12 that the information in the printing apparatus unique information database 612 has not changed, a user interface 511 is created in step B03 based on the information already read and read in step B10.

If it is determined in step B02 that the unique information of the newly connected printer is not registered in the database, the printing apparatus unique information analyzing unit 512 transmits the unique information via the bidirectional interface 520. Is sent to the printer device 600 so as to send (step B20). As a result, the transmitted unique information is obtained (step B21), the result is analyzed (step B22), and the analysis result is stored (step B23), thereby creating a user interface in step B03.

The operation of the second embodiment configured as described above and following the above control flow will be described below. First, a user creates a document or the like to be printed using application software or the like on the OS of the host computer 500, and uses the printer driver software 51 when printing.
Start 0. At this time, the user interface 511
The display (not shown) displays a list of setting information of the printing device required for printing, such as the model name of the device to be printed, types of selectable paper sizes, selectable options, and standard settings for printing. And so on.

Note that these information reflect the functions that can be used by the printing apparatus at the time of printing by the processing of the printer status 515 described above, and not all the functions that the printing apparatus originally has are displayed. Absent. Then, the user selects a setting suitable for the printing from the display information, and inputs the setting through the user interface 511.

Here, the user can confirm which printing device is to be used for printing based on the model name of the device to be printed, and when the available paper size is obtained, the user can determine the format suitable for the printing device, and When the user obtains an appropriate option, the user can recognize a function unique to the printing apparatus. Further, when the standard settings at the time of printing are acquired, it is possible to print a format necessary and sufficient for a large number of users without performing any format setting.

Then, the user enters the user interface 5
When a print start is instructed by the user 11, the print processing unit 514 creates print data from the document or the like to be printed using the settings of the printing device selected by the user, and transmits the print data via the bidirectional communication interface 520. Printing device 6
Send to 00. When the printing apparatus 600 receives the print data via the two-way communication interface 620, the printing apparatus control software 610 prints the print data by the printer engine 630.

Here, the setting of the printing apparatus is based on the function of the printing apparatus 600.
Further, since it is recognized that the printer cannot be used even though it has the function, it is impossible to select an unprintable setting. Because I also recognize what is
The functions of the printing device that can be used at the time of printing can be sufficiently obtained.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing a third embodiment of the print control apparatus having the above-described configuration. In FIG. 6, the printer driver software 70
0 is a program 701 for processing the printer description language A
Is built in, and this program can perform processing for a printing apparatus that is processed by the printer description language A. The printer driver software 700 is capable of calling an external program, recognizes an available printer description language held in the analysis result storage database, and calls a program for processing the corresponding printer description language. Perform processing. For example, a program 702 for processing an existing printer description language B or a program 703 for processing a newly developed printer description language X is called, and these programs are used for a printing apparatus processed by the printer description language B or X. Perform processing.
That is, any printer description language can be supported by calling an external program as needed.

As described above, in the present invention, the unique information of the printing apparatus is obtained by the bidirectional communication means, and a database of the unique information is created. Then, based on the information in the database, the functions and options of the printing apparatus are recognized, and print data such as documents corresponding to the functions and options of the printing apparatus is created. Therefore, printing can be performed for all printing apparatuses only by preparing the printing control apparatus of the present invention, so that it is not necessary to prepare a plurality of printing control apparatuses corresponding to individual printing apparatuses. Further, a plurality of types of printing apparatuses can be controlled with a unified user interface, and the operation by the user becomes very simple. Further, even when a new printing device is developed, it is not necessary to develop a dedicated printing control device.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, since all the printing apparatuses can be controlled only by the printing control apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing control apparatus with simple operation and high versatility. According to the second aspect of the invention, all functions of the printing apparatus are acquired, so that the performance of the printing apparatus can be sufficiently brought out. Furthermore, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a print control device having a high processing speed because unnecessary overwriting of a database created by the print control device is prevented. further,
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the information held in the database can be updated, it is possible to provide a highly versatile print control apparatus capable of coping with the expansion of functions of the printing apparatus. Further, according to the invention of claim 5, since the presence or absence of new printing device specific information is monitored, it is possible to quickly respond to expansion of the function of the printing device. Furthermore, according to the invention of claim 6, since it is possible to support all printer description languages, it is possible to provide a highly versatile print control device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the print control apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating control according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating control according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration of a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 host computer 110 printer driver software 111 user interface 112 printing device specific information analysis unit 113 analysis result storage database 114 print processing unit 120 bidirectional communication interface 200 printing device 210 printing device control software 211 printing device control unit 212 printing device specific information database 220 Two-way communication interface

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A print control device for outputting print data to an external printing device, comprising: bidirectional communication means for bidirectionally communicating information with the printing device; Unique information acquiring means for acquiring information unique to the printing apparatus; database creating means for creating a database of the printing apparatus by holding the printing apparatus unique information; and starting up the printing apparatus based on the database. Printer information analyzing means for determining information necessary for the printing apparatus, and printing apparatus control means for transmitting data printable by the printing apparatus to the printing apparatus via the bidirectional communication means based on the activation information. A print control device, comprising: 2. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said database creating means includes a model name of said printing apparatus, an available printer description language, an available paper size type, and available options. A print control apparatus characterized by acquiring standard settings at the time of printing and making them into a database. 3. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the database creation unit searches whether or not the unique information of the printing device to be acquired exists in a database, and the database creation unit has already been registered in the database. A printing control device that does not acquire the unique information of the printing device. 4. The printing control device according to claim 1, wherein the database creation unit is configured to register the acquired information in the database when the unique information of the printing device is already registered in the database. Determining whether or not the print device specific information has been updated, and if so, rewriting the print device specific information in the database with the updated acquisition information. . 5. The printing control device according to claim 4, wherein when judging whether or not the printing device unique information has been updated, the presence or absence of new printing device unique information is determined via the bidirectional communication means. A print control device characterized in that monitoring is performed constantly, periodically, or in response to a user request. 6. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said database creation means holds a processing program in a printer description language in a database.