JP2000339121A - Printer driver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a preview printing function. SOLUTION: The setting of 'preview print' is added to a print setting screen 3a. When a user instructs the setting, and then issues a printing instruction in an application program 1, a printer driver 3 prepares a preview picture of each page instead of an actual printing instruction, and preserves it in a preview picture DB3b. When the print setting screen 3a is opened, the pictures are fetched for each page from the preview picture DB3b as logical pages, and the results as set by the user on the print setting screen 3a are synthesized, and displayed at a printed result display part 3d.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a printer driver, and more particularly, to a printer driver having a preview function, and more particularly to a printer driver suitable for use in a copying machine or a facsimile machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing environment on a general-purpose operating system, a preview of a print result is mainly a function of an application program. In a preview provided by the application program, page layout, paper size, print margin, print direction, You can check information such as fonts.

[0003] However, due to the multifunctionality of printers and printer drivers, there have been cases where the preview function of the application program alone is not sufficient to cover the current functions. For example, the aggregate print function is a function of printing several pages (logical pages) sent from an application program into one page (physical page) at the printer driver side. However, since the application program only concerns the logical page, the output result of the physical page cannot be displayed by the preview function.

Further, functions such as punching (perforation) and staples cannot be recognized by the application program. Here, the function of “creating a final printed matter after forming a print image on a logical page” is hereinafter referred to as a “finishing function”.

In order to solve such a problem, a method that is actually used in many printer drivers is to use a bit map image prepared in advance to determine the result of the finishing function on the print setting screen of the printer driver. It is an illustration. For example, in the case of aggregate printing, a method of presenting a bitmap image representing a print image after aggregation on a print setting screen is a method.

[0006]

However, the print setting screen as described above is merely a "drawing" and does not reflect an actual print result.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and provides a printer driver having a "preview print" function for previewing a print result including a result of applying a finishing function on a print setting screen. It was done for the purpose of doing.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a printer driver for a printer which operates on a general-purpose operating system and has a finishing function such as punching, stapling, and consolidation printing includes:
This is characterized in that a preview of a print result including a result of applying the finishing function is displayed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a preview image can be created even in a normal printing process.

[0010] The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 2, it is possible to select whether or not to create a preview image at the time of printing.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not to update the preview image based on the update date of the print source file.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an embodiment of a printer driver according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an application program, 2 is a general-purpose operating system, 3 is a printer driver, 3a is a print setting screen, 3b is a preview image DB, 3c is a file update date table, and 3d is a print result display section. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display by a print result display unit illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a display based on the file update date table shown in FIG.

An application program 1 runs on a general-purpose operating system 2. The printer driver 3 is one of the components of the general-purpose operating system 2. The general-purpose operating system 2 passes a print request from the application program 1 to the printer driver 3 for processing, and obtains a print instruction obtained as a result. Is received again and passed to the printer 4.
The printer 4 performs a printing process according to the print command.

The printer driver 3 has a print setting screen 3a, where various print settings can be made. For example, finishing settings such as punching, stapling, and intensive printing, and image quality settings such as resolution are set. Also,
The print setting screen 3a has a print result display section 3d. The print result display section 3d displays a print result including a finishing function as shown in FIG. Preview image DB 3b, file update date table 3c
Is a part of the printer driver 3, and the file update date table 3c has a file update date table in a format as shown in FIG.

The first aspect of the present invention relates to a printer driver capable of previewing a print result including a result of applying a finishing function on a print setting screen 3a.

First, the setting of "preview printing" is added to the print setting screen 3a. When the user issues a print instruction in the application program 1 after instructing this setting, the printer driver 3 creates a preview image of each page instead of the actual print instruction, and stores it in the preview image DB 3b.

After that, when the print setting screen 3a is opened,
The image is acquired one page at a time from the preview image DB 3b, and this is set as a logical page, and the user sets the print setting screen 3
print result display unit 3 by combining the results set in step a.
Display in d. For example, if the printing of four pages is to be collectively printed on one page, an image in which four pages of the preview image are arranged is newly formed, and the newly formed image is displayed on the print result display unit 3d.
To be displayed.

Note that the preview image may be created by issuing a virtual drawing command on the bitmap using a bitmap image creation function provided by the general-purpose operating system 2.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, after all finishing functions are set on a print setting screen, "preview printing" is set, and then the application program is printed on the driver. Creates a preview image of each page using the function of the general-purpose operating system instead of the actual printing process, the printer driver holds the obtained preview image, and when the print setting screen opens again,
Using the held preview image, processing according to the set finishing function is performed, and the result is presented to the user.

[0020] The invention of claim 2 relates to the printer driver of the invention of claim 1 which can create a preview image by ordinary printing. In the invention of claim 1, it is necessary to set "preview printing". , Claim 2
The invention does not require this setting. That is, when the user issues a normal print instruction in the application program 1, the printer driver 3 generates an actual print instruction and also creates a preview image in parallel. The rest is the same as the first aspect of the invention.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, as described above, the "preview printing" process in the first aspect is also performed in a normal printing process. That is, in a normal print process, a print command that can be interpreted by a printer is created in response to a print request from a general-purpose operating system, and a process of creating a preview image is also performed in parallel.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining an embodiment of the print setting screen shown in FIG. A third aspect of the present invention relates to the printer driver according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein it is possible to select whether or not to create a preview image during printing.

Items as shown in FIG. 4 are set on the print setting screen 3a. When the user issues a print request in the application program 1, whether or not to create a preview image for the user is determined. Or let me choose. Use a dialog box for selection. When the user selects the preview image creation, or when the setting is “OF
In the case of F ", the operation is the same as in the second aspect of the invention.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, as described above, "confirm the creation of a preview image" on the print setting screen.
The printer driver refers to the setting of this item and inquires of the user whether or not to create a preview image at the time of printing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of the print setting screen shown in FIG. The invention of claim 4 is
A third aspect of the present invention relates to a printer driver capable of automatically determining whether to update a preview image based on an update date of a print source file.

Items shown in FIG. 5 are set on the print setting screen 3a. As shown in FIG. 5B, the setting of the preview image creation confirmation is "O" as shown in FIG. 5B.
N ". The print request from the general-purpose operating system 2 includes a print source file name as print job information. The update date of this file name is inquired to the general-purpose operating system 2. It is checked whether the file is recorded in the file update date table 3c, and if the recorded file is updated, the preview image creation confirmation setting is ignored and the preview image is always created. Up,
The update date and time of the processed file are recorded in the file update date table 3c. Otherwise, it operates in the same manner as the third aspect of the invention.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, as described above, a print request from a general-purpose operating system includes a print source file name as print job information, and an update date of an actual file is obtained from the file name. The preview image is updated (created) unconditionally if it has been updated compared to the previous printing.

[0028]

(1) Effects corresponding to the first aspect of the present invention The effects of the finishing function can be confirmed with respect to actual printing results.

(2) Effects Corresponding to the Invention of Claim 2 In the invention of claim 1, it is necessary to perform a dedicated print process for preview, but it is possible to obtain it without a special procedure (preview print). it can.

(3) Effect Corresponding to the Invention of Claim 3 In the invention of Claim 2, since a preview image is created every time printing is performed, there is a possibility that the printing performance may be degraded. The effect of claim 2 can be obtained while limiting the limitation.

(4) Effects Corresponding to the Invention of Claim 4 In the invention of claim 3, the user's operation is increased by one by making a selection as to whether or not to create a preview image. However, the effect of claim 3 can be obtained while reducing the burden on the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main part configuration diagram for explaining an embodiment of a printer driver according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display by a print result display unit illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a file update date table shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining an embodiment of a print setting screen shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining another embodiment of the print setting screen shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Application program, 2 ... General-purpose operating system, 3 ... Printer driver, 3a ... Print setting screen, 3b ... Preview image DB, 3c ... File update date table, 3d ... Print result display part.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer driver for a printer having a finishing function such as punching, stapling, and consolidation printing which operates on a general-purpose operating system, wherein a preview image of a printing result including a result of applying the finishing function to a print setting screen is displayed. A printer driver characterized by being created. 2. The printer driver according to claim 1, wherein a preview image can be created even for a normal printing process. 3. The printer driver according to claim 2, wherein whether or not to create the preview image can be selected. 4. The printer driver according to claim 3, wherein it is determined whether or not to update the preview image based on an update date of a print source file.