JP2000132348A - Printing system, method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently execute cashing even if printing a plurality of documents and also output the documents at high speed by caching data similar to that developed by a server and generating printing data. SOLUTION: For printing document data processed by personal computes 11-13, they can be printed by there ways. A desired printer is selected from the personal computer by the setting of a user and document data is printed. Document data is once transferred to a printer server 18 with printer designation information and data is printed by the designated printer at high speed by using character caching data from the printer server 18. Document data is once transferred to the printer server 18 and the printer server 18 selects the optimum printer. Data is printed at high speed by the selected printer by using character caching data. Thus, caching can efficiently be executed even if printing the plurality of documents and the documents can be outputted at high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system, a printing method, and a storage device capable of performing printing efficiently when a print instruction is executed from at least one information processing device such as a personal computer connected to a server. Regarding the medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when printing from a plurality of personal computers (personal computers) connected to a server, a printer to be output on the personal computer is selected, data suitable for the printer is created, and the data is passed through the server. Output to a printer.

When such a printing process is performed, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 234914 discloses a technique in which when the same character data is present, only the first character is output as an image and only the character code is output from the next character so that each personal computer can print efficiently. Have been.

[0004]

However, in the conventional print processing, when the output of one document is completed, the output of the previous document is not performed when the next document is printed, because the state of the printer cannot be known. Even if there was the same character as before, it was necessary to redo the character expansion again.

Conventionally, the choice between character expansion using a personal computer and character expansion using a printer has been left to the user, so it is difficult to determine which is more advantageous to perform character expansion. Depended on the user's knowledge.

In view of this, the present invention has been made under such a background, and caching can be performed only for each document. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system, a method, and a storage medium that can perform document output and output documents at high speed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing system, a printing method, and a storage medium capable of printing efficiently depending on the type of document data to be printed.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system in which an information processing apparatus, a printer, and a server are connected via a network. A data transfer unit for transferring data from the information processing apparatus to the server via the network, a decompression processing unit for performing decompression processing of the transferred data by the server; A print data creating unit that creates a print data by performing a caching process on the same data as the processed data; and a print data transfer unit that transfers the created print data to the printer. It is characterized by.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing system according to the first aspect, wherein the data transferred to the server is expanded by the server or the printer. Means, and code data transfer means for transferring code data from the server to the printer when it is determined that expansion processing is performed by the printer. The data creation unit creates the print data by performing the caching process, and the print data transfer unit transfers the created print data to the printer through the network.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect, a transfer determining unit that determines whether to transfer data from the information processing apparatus to the server, If it is determined that the print data is not to be transferred to the server, a second print data creating unit that creates the print data by performing the expansion processing in the information processing device; and a second print data creating unit that transfers the created print data to the printer through the network. 2 print data transfer means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the third aspect, if it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, the data processing is performed by the information processing apparatus. A second development processing determination unit configured to determine whether to perform the development processing by the printer; and a second code data transfer unit configured to transfer the code data from the server to the printer when the development processing is determined to be performed by the printer. It is characterized by the following.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect, when the data is registered in the server, an expansion process is performed.

A printing system according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the printing system according to the first aspect, further comprising a printer selection unit that selects a printer according to a user's specification, and the print data transfer unit transmits the print data to the selected printer. The transferred print data is transferred.

A printing system according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is the printing system according to the first aspect, further comprising a printer selection unit that selects an optimum printer from printers connected to the network by the server. Wherein the print data transfer means transfers the created print data to the printer.

In a printing system according to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, the data is character data.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method for printing data from the information processing apparatus in a printing system in which the information processing apparatus, a printer, and a server are connected via a network. Transferring the data to the server through the network, performing the expansion processing of the transferred data in the server, and performing caching processing on the same data as the data on which the expansion processing has been performed. The method includes a step of creating print data and a step of transferring the created print data to the printer.

The printing method according to claim 10 is the printing method according to claim 9.
In the printing method according to the above, a step of determining whether to perform the expansion processing of the data transferred to the server by the server or the printer, and when it is determined that the expansion processing is performed by the printer, Transferring the code data to the printer, and if it is determined that the server performs the expanding process, the caching process is performed to create print data, and the created print data is transmitted through the network. It is characterized in that it is transferred to a printer.

The printing method according to claim 11 is the printing method according to claim 9.
In the printing method according to the step of determining whether to transfer the data from the information processing device to the server, and if it is determined not to transfer the data to the server,
The information processing apparatus includes a step of performing the expansion processing to generate print data and a step of transferring the generated print data to the printer via the network.

The printing method according to the twelfth aspect provides the printing method according to the first aspect.
In the printing method according to the first aspect, when it is determined that the data is not transferred to the server, a step of determining whether the data expansion processing is performed by the information processing apparatus or the printer, Transferring the code data from the server to the printer when it is determined that the processing is to be performed.

According to a thirteenth aspect, a printing method according to the ninth aspect is provided.
The printing method according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a step of performing a rasterization process when registering the data in the server.

The printing method according to claim 14 is the printing method according to claim 9.
The printing method according to the above, further comprising a step of selecting a printer according to a user's designation, wherein the created print data is transferred to the selected printer.

The printing method according to claim 15 is the printing method according to claim 9.
The printing method according to the above, further comprising a step of selecting an optimum printer from printers connected to the network by the server, and transferring the created print data to the selected printer. .

[0023] In a printing method according to a sixteenth aspect, in the printing method according to any one of the ninth to fifteenth aspects, the data is character data.

[0024] A storage medium according to a seventeenth aspect stores a program that is executed by a CPU in a printing system in which an information processing device, a printer, and a server are connected via a network, and prints data from the information processing device. In the stored storage medium, the program includes a procedure for transferring data from the information processing apparatus to the server via the network, a procedure for performing the expansion processing of the transferred data in the server, and It is characterized by including a procedure of creating print data by performing a caching process on the same data as the generated data, and a procedure of transferring the created print data to the printer.

In the storage medium according to claim 18, in the storage medium according to claim 17, the program determines whether the data transferred to the server is to be expanded by the server or the printer. And a step of transferring code data from the server to the printer when it is determined to perform the expansion processing by the printer, and when the determination is made to perform the expansion processing by the server, the caching processing is performed. To create print data, and transfer the created print data to the printer through the network.

In the storage medium according to the nineteenth aspect, in the storage medium according to the seventeenth aspect, the program determines whether or not to transfer data from the information processing apparatus to the server; If it is determined that the print data is not to be transferred to the server, the information processing apparatus performs the expansion processing to create print data, and includes a step of transferring the created print data to the printer through the network. It is characterized by the following.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium according to the twentieth aspect, when it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, the program executes the data expansion processing by the information processing. It is characterized by including a procedure of determining whether to perform the processing by the apparatus or the printer, and a procedure of transferring the code data from the server to the printer when it is determined that the expansion processing is performed by the printer.

[0028] In a storage medium according to a twenty-first aspect, in the storage medium according to the seventeenth aspect, when the data is registered in the server, the program includes a procedure for performing a development process.

According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium according to the seventeenth aspect, the program includes a procedure for selecting a printer according to a user's designation, and the created print data is stored in the selected printer. Is transferred.

[0030] In the storage medium according to claim 23, in the storage medium according to claim 17, the program includes a step of selecting an optimum printer from printers connected to the network by the server. The created print data is transferred to a selected printer.

[0031] In the storage medium according to claim 24, in the storage medium according to any one of claims 17 to 23,
The data is character data.

[0032]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the printing system, method and storage medium of the present invention will be described. The printing system according to the present embodiment is applied to a document printing system having a printer selection function.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document printing system according to the first embodiment. The document printing system includes a plurality of personal computers (hereinafter, referred to as personal computers) 11, 12, 13,.
It has a configuration in which a plurality of printers 14, 15, 16, 17 and one printer server 18 are connected by a network 19.

Incidentally, instead of the personal computers 11, 12, and 13, it is also possible to connect an information processing device such as a word processor, a workstation, or a portable information terminal. The printer server 18 has therein a font data group for a plurality of types of fonts and a plurality of printer drivers.

In this document printing system, the personal computer 1
When printing the document data processed in 1, 12, and 13, printing can be performed by the following three methods.
In the first method, a desired printer is selected from a personal computer according to user settings, and document data is printed by the selected printer. In the second method, the document data is temporarily transferred to the printer server 18 together with the printer specification information from the user, and the printer server 18 prints at high speed using the character caching data. In the third method, the document data is temporarily transferred to the printer server 18, the most suitable printer is selected by the printer server 18, and printing is performed at high speed by the selected printer using the character caching data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the personal computers 11, 12, and 13 and the printer server 18. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a CPU, that is, a central processing unit, which controls the entire apparatus and performs arithmetic processing. A read-only memory (ROM) 102 stores a system start-up program, a basic I / O program, character pattern data (font data) for converting a character code into a bit pattern, and the like.

Reference numeral 103 denotes a random access memory (RA
M), and temporarily stores data and calculation results used by the CPU 101, character pattern data strings converted from character codes for display, and the like.

Reference numeral 104 denotes a keyboard control unit (KBC). A CPU 105 receives key input data (character codes and control codes) from a keyboard (KB), and
To communicate. 106 is a display control unit (CRTC)
The character pattern data string stored in the RAM 103 is read and transferred to the CRT 107. Reference numeral 107 denotes a display device (CRT) which receives a character pattern data string from the CRTC 106 and displays it on a display screen.

Reference numeral 108 denotes a disk control unit (DKC), which controls access to the external storage device 109.
Reference numeral 109 denotes a floppy disk drive (FD) 109a, a hard disk drive (HD) 109b, and a CD-ROM
An external storage device such as the device 109c. FIG. 5, which will be described later,
The application programs and related data shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 6, 9, and 12 may be stored in the ROM 102 described above as in the present embodiment.
It is stored in a storage medium such as a floppy disk or CD-ROM, and is stored in a floppy disk device 109a, a CD-ROM.
The information may be supplied from the external storage device 109 such as the device 109c to the inside of the device.

A network control unit (NTC) 110 controls the operation of the network device (NT) 111. Reference numeral 112 denotes a system bus, which performs data transfer between units.

FIG. 3 shows the RAM 103 when the program shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 5, 6, 9 and 12 is executed.
3 is a diagram showing a memory map of FIG. The basic I / O program is stored in the ROM 102 by a system boot program.
It is read into the AM 103. Also, the external storage device 109
Floppy disk drive 109a or C
The application program and related data are temporarily stored in the hard disk device 10 from the D-ROM device 109c.
When the power is turned on with the 9b installed,
By loading the data from the hard disk device 109b to the RAM 103, it becomes possible to execute the program.

It is also possible to directly load the program from the floppy disk device 109a or the CD-ROM device 109c into the RAM 103 and execute the program without installing the program on the hard disk device 109b. Here, in the printer server 18, a printer information table described later is developed in the area of the related data.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the printers 14, 15, 16, and 17. Printer 1
Reference numerals 4, 15, 16, and 17 may be any type of printers such as a laser beam printer, a bubble jet printer, and a thermal transfer printer.

The printers 14, 15, 16, 17 are provided with a CP
U211, ROM 212, RAM 213, system bus 214, printer controller (PRTC) 215, printer engine (PRT) 216, network controller (NTC) 217, and network device (N
T) 218.

The CPU 211 is a central processing unit that controls the entire apparatus, and executes various processes necessary for printing according to a program stored in the ROM 212 while using the RAM 213 as a work area or the like. The system bus 214 is a path for exchanging data and control signals between the units. The ROM 212 stores character pattern data (font data) and the like.

The CPU 211 generates image (print) data (bitmap data) from the document data supplied from the personal computers 11, 12, and 13 via the printer server 18 based on the character pattern data in the ROM 212.
The data is developed in a print buffer (not shown) in the printer controller 215. The printer controller 215 outputs a print control signal generated based on the bitmap data to the printer engine 216.

The network controller 217 controls the operation of the network device (NT) 218 when transmitting and receiving data between the personal computers 11, 12, and 13 and the printer server 18 via the network 19.

The printer server 18 has a printer address information file in which font data groups for a plurality of types of fonts, a plurality of printer drivers, and addresses of the respective printers on the network 19 are stored.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are flowcharts showing the document printing processing procedure on the personal computer side. This processing program is loaded from the ROM 102 in the personal computers 11, 12, and 13 to the RAM 103 and executed by the CPU 101. The processing on the personal computer side among the processing for outputting to the printer from the personal computer via the server will be described.

First, the personal computer inquires the status of the printer that can output to the server (step S5).
1). Wait until there is a response from the server (step S5
2). Here, the contents of the response from the server include the name of the ready printer, the paper size that can be output by the printer, the resolution, and the like.

If there is a response from the server, the user selects a printer (step S53). FIG. 7 shows a printer selection screen. The user selects a printer to output on the printer selection screen. The example in FIG. 7 shows a state where “Canon LBP-730” is currently selected. Here, if the user does not particularly specify a printer to output to, and wants to delegate the optimal output printer setting to the server, the user selects the delegation to the server (step S54). Select the item "Delegation to server" on the selection screen of FIG.

On the other hand, if the user wants to specify a printer, he or she selects a desired printer (step S59). That is, “Canon LBP-73” on the selection screen of FIG.
0 "," Canon LBP-310 "or" Canon
on BJ450 ".

When the output printer is entrusted to the server in step S54, the output conditions desired by the user are set (step S55). As an item to be set, if a property column is selected after selecting a printer in FIG. 7, a printer setting screen is displayed. FIG. 8 shows a setting screen of the printer. On the printer setting screen, the printing direction of paper such as paper size, portrait / landscape, number of copies, designation of pages to be output, print density (resolution), and character development processing can be performed on the personal computer (server) side. The selection is made, for example, whether to make the selection on the side or to delegate the selection to a personal computer (server). In the example of FIG.
4, print direction vertical, 1 copy, all pages specified,
A resolution of 600 dpi and a character expansion process on the printer side are set.

The type of printer, the data of the setting items and the document data to be output are transferred to the server (step S56). In order to receive the information of the printer name selected from the server side and the location information thereof, the printer waits for reception (step S57). When data is received from the server side, the selected printer name, its location information, or the output conditions determined in step S55 or step S61 described later are displayed on the personal computer screen, and the user who has issued the print request is displayed. To notify what printer and what setting is used to output (step S5)
8).

On the other hand, when the user selects a desired printer in step S59, the driver for the printer is read (step S60). For that printer,
Output conditions desired by the user are set (step S6).
1). As in the process of step S55, by selecting the properties of the printer, a screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed. Items to be set include paper size, printing direction of paper such as portrait / landscape, number of copies, designation of pages to be output, print density (resolution), and the like.

The document data is transferred to the server and print image data is created using caching data and the like stored in the server and output at high speed, or print image data is created on a personal computer and passed through the server. It is determined whether or not to output to a printer connected to the network without performing (Step S62).

As an example of the selection here, in the case of directly printing without going through a server, for example, in the case of small document data of about 1 or 2 pages, it is more necessary to output the data on a personal computer than to output via a server. There is a case where the user determines that creating the print image data has a smaller overhead and can be output at a higher speed.

When printing via a server, there are several tens of pages of document data to be printed.
There is a case where the user determines that creating print image data on the server can output more efficiently than creating print image data on a personal computer.

Even if the document data is as small as one or two pages, if the font data to be output is not on the personal computer and the font data exists on the server, the document data is transferred to the server and printed from the server. There is also a case where the user determines that it is better to do so.

If the user specifies to output via the server in the process of step S62, the process proceeds to step S56, and the document data and the setting items of the output condition set in step S61 are transferred to the server.

On the other hand, when the output is not performed via the server, the user selects whether to perform the character expansion processing on the personal computer side, perform the character expansion processing on the printer side, or leave the determination to the personal computer (step). S6
3). Since this selection has already been determined by the user in step S61, if the personal computer is to perform character expansion processing according to the determination, the process proceeds to step S67.
If the character development process is to be performed on the printer side, step S
When proceeding to the process of 69 and leaving the judgment to the personal computer,
Proceed to step S64.

Then, when the personal computer is left to make the determination, a command for inquiring the character development processing capability of the printer and the font information possessed by the printer is sent through the network (step S64).

It is determined whether the response inquired at step S64 has been received from the printer (step S65). If received from the printer, step S6
Proceed to the process of 6 and, if not received, wait for reception here.

When receiving from the printer, there is a response from the printer, such as the caching status and the expansion processing capability, and it is better to perform the character expansion processing on the personal computer according to the status. It is determined whether it is better to perform the character expansion processing on the side (step S66). In this determination method, first, the document data is analyzed, and the typeface used in the document is classified.

The printer information obtained in step 64 is compared with the font data to determine whether or not the font data used in the document exists in the printer. If it does not exist, it is determined that it should be developed on the personal computer rather than on the printer. If the typeface data matches, the performance of the personal computer and the performance of the printer are compared, and the performance of the personal computer is more than a certain difference (for example, three times) than the performance of the printer.
If there is, determine to deploy on the PC side.
On the other hand, if the difference is less than a certain difference, it is determined that the image is developed on the printer side.

If it is determined that the character development process is to be performed on the personal computer side, the process proceeds to step S67. If it is determined that the character development process is to be performed on the printer side, the process proceeds to step S69.

If it is determined that the character expansion processing is to be performed on the personal computer side, that is, if the user determines that the print image data should be created on the personal computer, the printing is performed in accordance with the document data and the items set in step S61. Data to be created is created (step S67). The details of the print data are described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-234914 (Japanese Patent Application No.
-42864), etc., and will not be described here.

Then, the print data is directly transferred to the desired printer connected to the network without going through the server, and printing is performed by the desired printer (step S6).
8).

On the other hand, if the printer determines that the character expansion processing is to be performed, the personal computer converts the designated document data into, for example, character code data so that the printer can interpret and print the specified document data (step S69). Then, the data is transferred to the printer side (step S70), and the processing on the personal computer side ends.

As described above, the flow of the processing on the personal computer side in the printing processing including the processing of outputting from the personal computer to the printer via the server using the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 has been described.

Next, the flow of processing on the server side will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a document print processing procedure on the server side. This processing program is executed by the R
Loaded from OM to RAM and executed by CPU.

First, the server waits for a printer status inquiry command or a print command command from the personal computer through the network (step S8).
1). While no command is received, the server waits without performing any processing. If any of the commands is received, it is determined whether the received command is a printer status inquiry or a print execution command (step S82).

If the received command is a printer status inquiry, the flow advances to step S83. If the received command is a print execution command, the flow advances to step S84. If the received command is a printer status inquiry, the printer connected to the current network is detected. The detected printer data includes
The printer name, the location information of the printer, the current status of each printer, and the like are stored in advance.
Then, it is checked whether each printer can print. Here, the printers whose power is turned on are searched for, and among them, the printers which have no error such as running out of paper or running out of toner are searched. further,
Among the printers, printers having no data to be output to the queue or printers having a small amount of data even if data to be output to the queue exist are listed, and the list is sent to the personal computer through the network (step S83). ). Thereafter, the process returns to step S81,
Wait for a new command from the PC.

On the other hand, when the print execution command is received from the personal computer, the data sent from the personal computer is checked, and it is checked whether or not the printer to be output has already been determined by the personal computer. (Step S84).

If the printer has already been determined on the personal computer side, the process proceeds to step S87. If the printer has been delegated to the server, the process proceeds to step S85. Then, if delegated to the server, the printer to be output is determined (step S85). In this process, similarly to the process of step S83, first, the printers connected to the current network are detected, and it is checked whether each printer is in a printable state. Then, among the printers, the setting items of the printer sent from the personal computer are preferentially treated as selection conditions. That is, it is checked whether a printer that meets conditions desired by the user, such as a paper size and a printing density (resolution), exists in the printers that can currently output.

When only one printer is detected, the printer is determined. If a plurality of printers are detected, the status of the queue is checked for each printer, and the data is sorted in ascending order of data in the queue. The printer with the least data in the queue is determined as the output printer. Also,
If no printer is detected, a substitute printer is determined as an output printer.

The printer name determined in step S85,
Alternatively, if a printer that meets the desired output conditions does not exist, information on whether or not replacement has been performed and location information such as where the personal computer is installed are notified to the requesting personal computer via a network. (Step S86).

The determined printer driver is read (step S87). The user selects whether to perform the character expansion processing on the server side, perform the character expansion processing on the printer side, or leave the determination to the server (step S88). This selection has already been determined by the user in step S55 or step S61 described above. If the server is to perform character expansion processing in accordance with the determination, the process proceeds to step 92, where the printer performs character expansion processing. To make it, step S95
When the server proceeds to step S8,
Go to 9.

Then, when leaving the judgment to the server,
A command for inquiring the printer about the character development processing capability and the typeface information of the printer is sent through the network (step S89). It is determined whether the response inquired at step S89 has been received from the printer side (step S90).

If received from the printer, step S
Proceed to 91 and, if not received, wait for reception here. There is a response from the printer about the caching status and expansion processing capacity, etc., and depending on those conditions, is it better to perform the character expansion processing on the server or on the printer? Is determined (step S91).

In this determination method, first, the document data is analyzed, and the typeface used in the document is classified. And
The printer information obtained in step S89 is compared with the font data to determine whether or not the font data used in the document exists in the printer. If it does not exist, it is determined that it should be deployed on the server side rather than on the printer. When the typeface data matches, the server performance is compared with the printer performance. If the server performance is more than a certain difference (for example, three times) than the printer performance, it is expanded on the server side. To judge. If the difference is less than a certain difference, it is determined that the data is developed on the printer side. If the server determines that the character expansion process is to be performed, the process proceeds to step S92. If the printer determines that the character expansion process is to be performed, the process proceeds to step S95.

If the user or the server determines that it is better to perform character expansion processing on the server side to create print image data, the data to be printed is determined according to the document data and the items set in step S55 or step S61. Is created (step S92).

At this time, font expansion and access to caching data are performed. First, the document data is analyzed, and necessary font data is classified. The classification includes typeface, size, and character code. The necessary data is searched according to the classification. At this time, the data cached in the server is stored in a format as shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a format of data cached in the server.

The data cached in the server includes typeface information, character size information, stored character code information,
Consists of character data. As the font information, the number of stored fonts, their font numbers, and weight values are stored. Therefore, if the desired font number and its weight value are not stored here, it is determined that character data is not stored in the caching data, and it is necessary to create character data.

On the other hand, if the desired typeface exists, the character size information is searched next. Then, it is checked whether or not the desired character size exists. If the desired character size does not exist in the character size information, it is determined that the desired character data does not exist, and it is necessary to create character data.

On the other hand, if data of a desired character size exists, the stored character code information is searched next. Check if the desired character code exists,
If the desired character code does not exist, it is determined that the character data does not exist, and it is necessary to create character data. On the other hand, when the desired character data exists, the character data can be searched from the pointer stored in the desired character code information, and the caching data can be accessed by reading the necessary data.

If there is no caching data and character data is created, there is a possibility that the character data will be used later. Therefore, the character data is registered here in the caching buffer. The typeface information, character size information, stored character code information, and character data are updated according to the type of data to be newly registered.
For example, if the data to be newly registered is 2422 character data of 60 × 60 dots of the Heisei Mincho W3, as shown in FIG. 11, the character size information, the stored character code information, and the necessary character data are required. However, it is updated. FIG.
FIG. 1 shows the format of character data.

Then, print data is created (step S93). The details of the print data at this time are described in
Since it is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 234914 (Japanese Patent Application No. 8-42864), it is omitted here. The print data is transferred from the server to a desired printer connected to the network, and printing is performed by the desired printer (step S9).
4).

On the other hand, if the user or the server determines that character expansion processing is performed on the printer side, the server converts the specified document data into, for example, character code data so that the printer can interpret and print the specified document data ( Step S95). The data is transferred to the printer (step S96). Then, when the processing in step S94 or S96 is completed, the processing returns to step S81, and waits for reception of a new command from the personal computer.

As described above, in the first embodiment, when printing document data processed by a personal computer in accordance with a user's specification, printing can be performed in the following three ways. That is, in the first method, a desired printer is selected from a personal computer according to a user setting, and the document data is printed directly via a network without passing through a server. In the second method, the document data is temporarily transferred from the user together with the printer designation information to the printer server 18, and the print data is printed to the designated printer at high speed using the character caching data from the printer server 18. In the third method, the document data is temporarily stored in the printer server 18.
The printer server 18 selects the most suitable printer, and prints at high speed by the selected printer using the character caching data.

Therefore, caching can be performed only in units of one document, and inefficient document printing is conventionally performed.
Caching can be performed efficiently even when printing a plurality of documents, and document output can be performed at high speed. Further, printing can be performed efficiently depending on the type of document data to be printed.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, a print command is executed from a personal computer, a user arbitrarily sets whether or not to pass through a printer server. A case has been described in which caching data is used for data and small document data that does not need to use caching data can be efficiently printed without passing through a printer server. Shows a case where caching processing is performed on font data installed when a new typeface is installed on the printer server side.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing a document printing processing procedure on the server side in the second embodiment. This processing program is loaded from the ROM in the printer server 18 to the RAM and stored in the CP, as in the first embodiment.
Performed by U.

First, it waits for reception of a printer status inquiry command or print request command from the personal computer, or waits for a request when a user requests to install a new font in the server (step S).
111). If there are no such requests, it waits for one. When a printer status inquiry command or a print request command arrives from the personal computer, FIG.
Since the same processing as in steps S82 to S96 is performed (step S119), the description thereof is omitted.

On the other hand, when the user requests installation of the font, the font data is installed in the server (step S112). The server inquires of the user whether caching is to be performed on the installed typeface (step S113).
At this time, if the user determines that caching is not performed at the time of installation, the installation operation is terminated here, and the process returns to step S111 to wait for a command from the personal computer or a request for the installation operation from the user.

On the other hand, if the user determines that caching is to be performed at the time of installation, it is checked whether the user has prepared character data size and code information to be cached in advance (step S114).
If the user has prepared the caching information table in advance, the process proceeds to step S118; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S115.

If the caching information table does not exist, it is determined how to create the caching information table (step S115). If the data of the existing cached typeface exists, the typeface in which the caching data exists is checked.
The typeface name is displayed as a reference typeface as shown in (1).

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing data of an existing cached typeface. If you want to have the same caching situation as the typeface, select the typeface and the size and characters of the cached characters of that typeface are displayed. If the same caching is OK, OK
Press the button. When the user wants to set the font independently without depending on the caching situation of the existing font, the user selects the item “set independently” at the reference font in FIG. 13 and presses the OK button.

If the existing font name is selected, the process proceeds to step S116. If the item of the setting is selected independently, the process proceeds to step S117. In order to make the caching situation similar to the caching situation of the existing font, the character size information and the stored character code information of the font selected in step S114 are copied, and a font name to be newly added is registered in the font information. (Step S1
16). Create necessary character data (step S1)
18). Thereafter, the process returns to step S111.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a table of caching data created in steps S116 and S118. At this time, the base caching data table is as shown in FIG. 10 described above, the font to be newly added is the round Gothic font w3, and the reference font is the Heisei Mincho font.

On the other hand, when the caching data of the font to be newly added is to be independently created without referring to the caching status of the existing font, that is, the item “independently set” is selected in step S115. When the OK button is pressed, a file in which the caching data table is individually described is prepared in advance, and the caching table is created by calling the file (step S117).

FIG. 14 shows a unique setting screen. In the example of FIG. 14, after pressing the OK button in FIG. 13, an original setting screen is displayed. When a file name in which a caching data table is described is specified, the caching status (character size and each character data) is changed. Is displayed. If there is a new size or character to be added in the size character item, it can be added here.

In this way, a caching table is created independently, and necessary character data is created in step S118. FIG. 16 shows steps S117 and S
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a table of caching data created in step 118.

When the creation of the necessary character data is completed in step S118 and the updating of the caching data table is completed, the process returns to step S111 to wait for a command from the personal computer or a request for installation work from the user.

In this way, by caching when installing a new typeface on the server, it is possible to minimize the amount of character data to be subjected to character expansion processing when printing document data after installation. It can output at high speed.

It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to the system from outside. In this case, by reading a storage medium storing a program represented by software for achieving the present invention into the system, the system can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a memory map of a ROM as a storage medium. The ROM in the personal computer shown in FIG. 5A stores the document print processing module on the personal computer side shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. The ROM in the server shown in FIG. 17B stores the document print processing module on the server side shown in the flowchart of FIG. A document print processing module on the server side shown in the flowchart of FIG. 12 is stored in the ROM in the server shown in FIG.

The storage medium is not limited to ROM, but may be a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk,
A magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a DVD, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, or the like can be used.

[0109]

According to the printing system of the first aspect of the present invention, when printing data from the information processing apparatus in a printing system in which an information processing apparatus, a printer, and a server are connected via a network, Data from the information processing device is transferred to the server through the network by data transfer means, and the transferred data is expanded by the server by the expansion processing means, and the same data as the data on which the expansion processing is performed is performed. The data is subjected to a caching process by a print data creation unit to create print data, and the print data transfer unit transfers the created print data to the printer. Inefficient document printing, caching can be performed efficiently even when printing multiple documents, and high-speed It is possible to perform the output. The same effect can be obtained in the printing method according to the ninth aspect and the storage medium according to the seventeenth aspect.

According to the printing system of the second aspect,
It is determined whether the data transferred to the server is to be expanded by the server or the printer by the expansion processing determining means. If it is determined that the expansion processing is to be performed by the printer, the code data transferring means When the code data is transferred from the server to the printer, and it is determined that the expansion processing is performed in the server, the print data creating unit performs the caching processing to create print data,
Since the print data transfer means transfers the created print data to the printer through the network,
Printing can be performed efficiently depending on the type of document data to be printed. The same effect can be obtained in the printing method according to the tenth aspect and the storage medium according to the eighteenth aspect.

According to the printing system of the third aspect,
The transfer determining means determines whether or not to transfer the data from the information processing apparatus to the server. If it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, the second print data creating means determines whether or not the data is to be transferred to the server. Print data is created by performing the expansion processing, and the created print data is transferred to the printer through the network by the second print data transfer means, so that the document data is printed directly through the network without passing through a server. can do. Therefore, printing can be performed efficiently depending on the type of document data to be printed. In the printing method according to the eleventh aspect and the storage medium according to the nineteenth aspect,
Similar effects can be obtained.

According to the printing system of the fourth aspect,
When it is determined that the data is not transferred to the server, it is determined whether the data expansion processing is performed by the information processing apparatus or the printer by a second expansion processing determination unit, and the expansion processing is performed by the printer. If it is determined that the code data is to be transmitted, the code data is transferred from the server to the printer by the second code data transfer means, so that the printer can easily interpret the code data and perform printing. The same effect can be obtained in the printing method according to the twelfth aspect and the storage medium according to the twentieth aspect.

According to the printing system of the fifth aspect,
When the data is registered in the server, expansion processing is performed, so caching is performed when a new typeface is installed on the server, so that character data to be subjected to character expansion processing when printing document data after installation is minimized. It is possible to output at high speed. The same effect can be obtained in the printing method according to the thirteenth aspect and the storage medium according to the twenty-first aspect.

According to the printing system of the sixth aspect,
A printer selection unit for selecting a printer in accordance with a user's designation; and the print data transfer unit transfers the created print data to the selected printer. To the designated printer at high speed using the character caching data from the printer server. The same effect can be obtained with the printing method according to the fourteenth aspect and the storage medium according to the twenty-second aspect.

According to the printing system of the seventh aspect,
A printer selection unit for selecting an optimum printer from printers connected to the network by the server; and the print data transfer unit transfers the created print data to the selected printer. Is temporarily transferred to the printer server, an optimum printer is selected by the printer server, and printing can be performed at high speed by the selected printer using the character caching data. Note that the printing method described in claim 15 and the storage medium described in claim 23 can obtain the same effect.

According to the printing system of the eighth aspect,
Since the data is character data, it is particularly effective when printing document data. Note that the same effect can be obtained in the printing method described in claim 16 and the storage medium described in claim 24.

According to the storage medium of the present invention, a program for executing data from the information processing apparatus is executed by a CPU in a printing system in which the information processing apparatus, printer and server are connected via a network. Is stored in a storage medium,
A procedure for transferring data from the information processing device to the server through the network, a procedure for performing the expansion processing of the transferred data in the server, and the same data as the data subjected to the expansion processing, Since it includes a procedure of creating print data by performing a caching process and a procedure of transferring the created print data to the printer,
The extensibility and versatility of the printing system can be improved.
Incidentally, claims 18, 19, 20, and 2
The same applies to the storage medium according to any one of claims 1, 22, 23 and 24.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a document printing system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of personal computers 11, 12, and 13 and a printer server 18.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a memory map of a RAM 103 when executing a program shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 5, 6, 8, and 11;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the printers 14, 15, 16, and 17.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a document print processing procedure on the personal computer side.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a document printing processing procedure on the personal computer side, following FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 illustrates a printer selection screen.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a setting screen of the printer.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a document print processing procedure on the server side.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a format of data cached in a server.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a format of character data.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a document print processing procedure on the server side according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing data of an existing cached typeface.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a unique setting screen.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table of caching data created in steps S116 and S118.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table of caching data created in steps S117 and S118.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a memory map of a ROM as a storage medium.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 12, 13 Personal computer (personal computer) 14, 15, 16, 17 Printer 18 Printer server 19 Network 101, 211 CPU 102, 212 ROM 109 External storage device

Claims (24)

[Claims] An information processing apparatus, a printer and a server are connected via a network, and in a printing system for printing data from the information processing apparatus, transferring data from the information processing apparatus to the server via the network. Data transfer means, expansion processing means for expanding the transferred data in the server, and print data for creating print data by performing caching processing on the same data as the data on which the expansion processing has been performed. A printing system, comprising: a creating unit; and a print data transfer unit that transfers the created print data to the printer. 2. A development processing determining means for determining whether the development processing of the data transferred to the server is performed by the server or the printer, and when it is determined that the development processing is performed by the printer, Code data transfer means for transferring code data from a server to the printer, if it is determined that the server performs the expansion process, the print data creation means performs the caching process to create print data, 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the print data transfer unit transfers the created print data to the printer through the network. 3. A transfer determining means for determining whether or not to transfer data from the information processing device to the server, and when it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, the information processing device performs the expansion. 2. A printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a second print data creating unit that creates print data by performing processing; and a second print data transfer unit that transfers the created print data to the printer through the network. The printing system as described. 4. When it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, a second expansion processing determination unit that determines whether the data expansion processing is performed by the information processing apparatus or the printer; When it is determined that the rasterization processing is to be performed by the printer, a second code data transfer from the server to the printer is performed.
4. The printing system according to claim 3, further comprising a code data transfer unit. 5. When registering the data in the server,
2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing system performs an expansion process. 6. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising printer selection means for selecting a printer in accordance with a user's designation, wherein said print data transfer means transfers said created print data to said selected printer. Printing system. 7. A printer selecting unit for selecting an optimum printer from printers connected to the network by the server, wherein the print data transfer unit transfers the created print data to the selected printer. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing is performed. 8. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the data is character data. 9. A printing method for printing data from the information processing device in a printing system in which the information processing device, a printer, and a server are connected via a network, wherein the data from the information processing device is transmitted to the server via the network. Transferring the transferred data to the server; performing the expansion processing of the transferred data in the server; performing caching processing on the same data as the data subjected to the expansion processing to generate print data; Transferring the created print data to the printer. 10. A step of determining whether the data transferred to the server is to be expanded by the server or the printer, and if it is determined that the printer performs the expansion processing, the server Transferring code data to a printer, if it is determined that the server performs the expansion processing, the caching processing is performed to create print data, and the created print data is transferred to the printer through the network. The printing method according to claim 9, wherein the data is transferred to a printer. 11. A step of determining whether or not to transfer data from the information processing apparatus to the server; and if it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, the information processing apparatus performs the expansion processing. The printing method according to claim 9, further comprising: performing printing data to generate the printing data; and transferring the generated printing data to the printer through the network. 12. When it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, a step of determining whether the data expansion processing is performed by the information processing apparatus or the printer, 12. The printing method according to claim 11, further comprising a step of transferring code data from the server to the printer when it is determined that the printing is to be performed. 13. The printing method according to claim 9, further comprising a step of performing a development process when registering the data in the server. 14. The printing method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of selecting a printer in accordance with a user's designation, and transferring the created print data to the selected printer. 15. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of selecting an optimum printer from the printers connected to the network by the server, and transferring the created print data to the selected printer. Item 10. The printing method according to Item 9. 16. The printing method according to claim 9, wherein the data is character data. 17. A C in a printing system in which an information processing apparatus, a printer and a server are connected via a network.
A storage medium that is executed by a PU and stores a program for printing data from the information processing apparatus, the program comprising: a procedure for transferring data from the information processing apparatus to the server through the network; A procedure for performing expansion processing of the expanded data on the server; a procedure for performing caching processing on the same data as the data on which the expansion processing has been performed to generate print data; and transmitting the generated print data to the printer. Transferring to a storage medium. 18. The program according to claim 18, further comprising: a step of determining whether to perform the expansion processing of the data transferred to the server by the server or the printer; and determining that the expansion processing is performed by the printer. Transferring the code data from the server to the printer.If it is determined that the server performs the expanding process, the caching process is performed to create print data, and the created print data is 18. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the data is transferred to the printer via a network. 19. The program according to claim 19, wherein the program determines whether or not to transfer the data from the information processing apparatus to the server; and determines that the data is not to be transferred to the server. 18. The storage medium according to claim 17, further comprising: a step of creating print data by performing the expansion processing; and a step of transferring the created print data to the printer through the network. 20. The program, when it is determined that the data is not to be transferred to the server, a step of determining whether the data expansion process is performed by the information processing apparatus or the printer; 20. The storage medium according to claim 19, further comprising: a step of transferring code data from said server to said printer when it is determined that said processing is to be performed by said server. 21. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein said program includes a procedure for performing a development process when registering said data in said server. 22. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the program includes a step of selecting a printer according to a user's designation, and transfers the created print data to the selected printer. 23. The program, comprising: a step of selecting an optimum printer from printers connected to the network by the server; and transferring the created print data to the selected printer. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein 24. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein said data is character data.