JP2000284928A - Print processing system and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print processing method for operating the print processing of data from terminal which is not provided with any application or printer driver. SOLUTION: This system is provided with a thin client 1, a printer 2, a server 3, and a network 4 for connecting them. In this case, the thin client 1 is provided with a data inputting part 11 for transmitting print data to the printer 2, and the printer 2 is provided with a printing part 25 for printing printer description language, and a preserving part 24 for storing printing capability information, and a printing capability information obtaining part 27 for obtaining the printing capability information, and a printing capability registering part 26 for registering the printing capability information in the server. The server 3 is provided with a print data converting part 31 for converting the print data into the printer description language, and a print data conversion information retrieving part 32 for retrieving the conversion information, and a conversion information offering part 33 for offering the conversion information, and a storage part 34 for storing the conversion information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print processing system and a print processing method for performing printing with a printer connected to a network. In particular, the present invention relates to a print processing system and a print processing method for performing printing with a printer connected to a network without providing an application or a printer driver for generating print data (printer description language) on a client.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing process in a network system in which a PC (Personal Computer) and a printer are connected, when printing data such as word processing sentences and images, the following processing is performed.

[0003] First, an application capable of handling print data such as word processing sentences and images to be printed on a PC is started. And with this application,
Converts print data such as word processing sentences and images into a printer description language.

[0004] The converted printer description language is transmitted to a printer controlled by a printer driver via a network. The printer receives and prints the printer description language.

[0005]

However, according to the above-described conventional print processing, it is necessary to provide a PC with an application for generating a printer description language and a printer driver for controlling a printer, so that it is called a thin client. There is a problem that a small terminal with limited hardware resources cannot include an application and a printer driver and cannot perform data printing.

In an environment where a plurality of printers exist, designation of a printer to be printed depends on what kind of printing the client wants to perform. However, there is a problem that it is not possible to specify a printer corresponding to the print request.

Accordingly, in view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to perform a data printing process even from a terminal that does not have an application and a printer driver, and select an optimum printer for print data and options from a plurality of printers. It is an object to provide a print processing system and a print processing method capable of performing a print process by using a print processing system.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a print processing system according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a client for inputting print data and issuing a print request, and a printer for printing the print data. In a print processing system comprising a server having conversion information necessary for printing, and a network connecting the client, the printer and the server, the client inputs print data such as a word processing document or an image and Data input means for transmitting to a printer, the server, storage means for storing conversion information for converting the print data into a printer description language, conversion information providing means for reading the conversion information from the storage means, The conversion information corresponding to the print data is searched from the conversion information passed from the conversion information providing unit. And print data conversion information retrieval means,
Printer capability registration means for registering print capability information of the printer in the storage means, wherein the printer prints the printer description language converted by the print data conversion means in the server; Storage capability storing print capability information representing the print capability information, a print capability acquisition unit configured to acquire the print capability information from the storage unit, and a print capability registration unit configured to register the print capability information in the server. It is characterized by the following.

In order to solve the above problems, a print processing method according to a first aspect of the present invention is a print processing method in which print data from a client connected to a network is converted by a server and printed by a printer. (A) transmitting print data and print options from a client to a server, and (b) comparing the print options with all of the registered printer print capability information, and determining which item has higher performance than the print options. A large number of printers are selected; (c) the server determines whether the print data is printable data; and (d) if the print data is not printable data, the conversion information corresponding to the print data is Searching, (e) converting the print data into printable data based on the conversion information, and (f) converting the printable data into the printable data. And sending it to a linter.

Since the server converts the print data into a printer description language, the client does not need to have an application capable of handling the print data or a printer driver for controlling the printer. Therefore, even a terminal with scarce hardware resources can perform high-quality printing.

In addition, since the server selects a printer based on the print data and converts the printer into a printer description language for the printer, it is not necessary to explicitly specify the printer on the client side. You can print with the most suitable printer.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a print processing system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the system includes a thin client 1 for inputting print data and making a print request, a printer 2 for printing print data, a server 3 having information and applications necessary for printing, a thin client 1, a printer 2 And network 4 connecting server 3
And

Here, the thin client 1 includes a data input unit 11 for inputting print data such as a word processing document and an image and issuing a print request to the printer 2.

The printer 2 includes a printing capability acquisition unit for acquiring printing capability information of the printer, a printing capability registration unit for registering the printing capability information to the server, and a printing unit 25 for printing a printer description language. ing.

The server 3 further comprises a print data conversion unit 31 for converting the received print data into a printer description language,
A print data conversion information search unit 32 for searching for conversion information for converting received print data into a printer description language
A conversion information providing unit 33 that provides conversion information for converting received print data into a printer description language, a storage unit 34 that stores conversion information for converting received print data into a printer description language, A printer capability registration unit that stores print capability information received from the printer 2 in the storage unit 32;

In FIG. 1, the thin client 1
Although only one printer and one printer 2 are shown, a plurality of thin clients 1 and printers 2 can be connected to the network 4. Further, a plurality of servers 3 may be connected to the network 4.

Next, the printing process in the above system configuration will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing registration of printer printing capability information from the printer 2 to the server 3.
This is a process performed when the printer 2 is connected to the network 4, and is performed before the following printing process. In FIG. 2, first, the printing capability acquisition unit 27 of the printer 2 stores printing capability information expressed by numerical values such as the time of the first print of the printer 2, the number of prints per minute, and the cost per one sheet. (Step 201), the printing capability registration unit 26 transmits the printing capability information to the server (step 202), and the printer capability registration unit 35 of the server 3 stores the printing capability information received from the printer 2 in the storage unit. 34 (step 20)
3).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a printing process when a plurality of printers 2 are connected to the network 4. In FIG. 3, first, the data input unit 11 of the thin client 1 inputs print data such as a word processing document or an image to be printed and options such as a print speed of what PPM, which are settings related to the printing. Then, the print data and the print option are transmitted to the server 3 together with the print request (step 301).

The server 3 receives print data and print options from the client 1 via the network 4. By comparing the print data received from the client 1 with the print options and all of the printer print capability information held by the server 3, the printer 2 having the same or higher capability than the print options is determined to be optimal for the print data and options. A printer is selected (step 302). The received data is input to the print data conversion unit 31, and the print data conversion unit 31 determines whether the print data is non-printable data such as a printable printer description language or application data (step 303).

If the print data is in a printable printer description language, the print data is transmitted to the printer 2 (step 304).

If the print data cannot be printed, the conversion information is received by the print data conversion search unit 32 from the storage unit 34 via the conversion information providing unit 33, and the print data conversion search unit 32 corresponds to the print data. Search for conversion information. The print data conversion unit 31 receives the result and determines whether the print data can be converted into a printer description language (step 305).

If the print data can be converted into the printer description language, the print data conversion unit 31 converts the print data into the printer description language based on the conversion information (step 306). Then, the most suitable printer for the converted printer description language is selected (step 302), and it is determined whether or not the converted printer description language can be printed (step 303). 2 (step 304).

On the other hand, if the print data cannot be converted into the printer description language, the printing process ends.

[0026]

As described above, according to the print processing system and print processing method of the present invention, a server converts print data into a printer description language. Therefore, a client capable of handling print data and a printer driver for controlling a printer are provided. No need to prepare. Therefore, high-quality printing can be performed even on a terminal with scarce hardware resources.

Further, when a plurality of printers exist in the network, the client does not need to select a printer to print, and printing can be performed on an optimum printer with print data and options.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating printing capability registration in the print processing system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating print processing in the print processing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 thin client 2 printer 3 server 4 network 11 data input unit 31 print data conversion unit 32 print data conversion information search unit 33 conversion information providing unit 24, 34 storage unit 25 printing unit 26 printing capability registration unit 27 printing capability acquisition unit 35 printer Ability registration department

Claims (2)

[Claims] A client for inputting print data and issuing a print request; a printer for printing the print data;
In a print processing system including a server that performs the print data conversion, and a network that connects the client, the printer, and the server, the client inputs print data such as a word processing document or an image and transmits the print data to the printer. A printer that prints the printer description language; and print capability information such as the time of first print of the printer, the number of prints per minute, and the cost per sheet. , A printing capability registration unit that registers the printing capability information in the server, and a storage unit that stores the printing capability information. The server stores the printing data in a printer. Storage for storing conversion information for converting to a description language and capability information of the printer A conversion information providing unit that reads the conversion information from the storage unit; and a print data conversion information search unit that searches for the conversion information corresponding to the print data from the conversion information passed from the conversion information providing unit. And a printer capability registration unit that registers print capability information of the printer in the storage unit. 2. A print processing method in which print data from a client connected to a network is converted by a server connected to the network and printed by a printer, and (a) print data and a print option are transmitted from the client. (B) comparing the print option with all the registered printer print capability information, and selecting a printer having the most items with higher performance than the print option; and (c) using the printer. Determining whether the print data is data that can be printed; (d) searching the server for conversion information corresponding to the print data if the print data is data that cannot be printed; Converting the print data into printable data based on the conversion information; and (f) converting the printable data into the printable data. A print processing method, wherein the print processing method is transmitted to a printer.