JP2001265551A - Information processor and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to easily recognize an installed position of a selected printer when a desired printer is selected from among plural printers in the case of print by a data processor connected with a network. SOLUTION: When a print request is made, a print document is stored in a print data storage part, layout display information is acquired from the data processor to store the layout display information to display the installed position of at least printing equipment in a room by an icon and when the printer to perform print is selected, print data is transferred to the applicable printer and the position of the printer selected based on the layout display information is displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is to automatically display the installation position of a selected printing device when printing a print document by a data processing device on a printing device selected from a plurality of printing devices. Information processing apparatus and information processing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional information processing apparatus and information processing method, there is one described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-295766.

In this conventional example, a transfer time required to transfer input information to an output device, an output processing time required to generate output information based on the input information, and a waiting time for transferring to the output device. The output completion time of the other input information is derived for each output device, and the output device to which the input information is transferred is selected based on the derived transfer time, output processing time, and output completion time.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional information processing apparatus and information processing method, when printing print data, an output device that completes printing the fastest is automatically selected. Although there is no problem when these multiple output devices are installed collectively,
When a plurality of output devices are arranged in a distributed manner, it is not possible to determine in which place the printed paper should be retrieved, and it takes time and effort to find the output device to which its own print data has been output. There is an unsolved problem. In particular,
When a different department or an external person prints using a portable information terminal or prints using a fixed data processing device, it is not possible to know the installation position of the printing device. There is an unsolved problem that has to be asked and this is a hassle.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned unresolved problems of the prior art, and when a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to a network, one of these printing apparatuses is selected. In this case, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing method capable of clearly displaying an installation position of a selected printing apparatus.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is provided in a network,
In an information processing apparatus in which a data processing apparatus and a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to each other to print print data of the data processing apparatus, the data processing apparatus includes a printing apparatus for selecting a desired printing apparatus from the plurality of printing apparatuses. Device selection means;
Installation position display means for displaying the installation position of the printing apparatus selected by the printing apparatus selection means.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when printing data is printed by the data processing apparatus, a desired printing apparatus is manually or automatically selected from a plurality of printing apparatuses by the printing apparatus selecting means. By displaying the installation position of the selected printing device on the installation position display means, it is possible to reliably recognize the installation position of the printing device on which the print data is printed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus comprising: a fixed data processing device and a plurality of printing devices having at least a fixed installation position, and a portable data processing device having an unfixed installation position. Is connected to the portable data processing device to print the print data, wherein the fixed data processing device has layout display information for storing layout display information of various devices connected to a network. A storage display unit, wherein the portable data processing apparatus accesses a layout display information storage unit of the fixed data processing apparatus to obtain layout display information; A printing device selection unit for selecting a printing device; and a printer device selected by the printing device selection unit. The installation position of the corresponding printing apparatus,
An installation position display unit for displaying based on the layout display information acquired by the layout display information acquisition unit.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the portable data processing device is connected to a network for printing,
When the layout display information acquisition unit acquires layout display information of various devices stored in the fixed data processing device in advance, and when the printing device selection unit manually or automatically selects a printing device, the installation position display unit By displaying the installation position of the selected printing device based on the layout display information, it is possible to reliably recognize the installation position of the printing device on which the print data is printed.

Further, an information processing apparatus according to claim 3 is
At least a plurality of fixed data processing apparatuses and a plurality of printing apparatuses whose installation positions are fixed, and a portable data processing apparatus whose installation positions are not fixed are connected to the network, and print data of each of the data processing apparatuses is connected. In an information processing apparatus configured to print, at least one of the plurality of fixed data processing apparatuses includes a layout display information storage unit configured to store layout display information of various devices connected to a network. Either the fixed data processing device or the portable data processing device that does not include the information storage device is a layout display information acquisition device that accesses the layout display information storage device of the fixed data processing device to acquire layout display information. When,
A printing device selection unit for selecting a desired printing device from the plurality of printing devices; and when a printing device is selected by the printing device selection unit, an installation position of the printing device is determined by the layout display information acquisition unit. Installation position display means for displaying based on the acquired layout display information.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when printing via a network with a portable data processing device or a fixed data processing device that does not store layout display information, a fixed type storage device having layout display information storage means is provided. The layout display information of various devices stored in advance in the data processing device is acquired by the layout display information acquisition unit, and when the printing device is manually or automatically selected by the printing device selection unit, the installation position display unit includes: By displaying the installation position of the selected printing device based on the layout display information, it is possible to reliably recognize the installation position of the printing device on which the print data is to be printed. If only the layout display information is stored, the layout display information can be easily changed when the layout is changed. That.

Further, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the data processing apparatus and the printing apparatus form a network via a short-range wireless communication interface. It is characterized by having.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the data transmission between the data processing device and the printing device is performed via the short-range wireless communication interface, the communication means can be simplified and miniaturized, and power can be saved. Can be planned.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method, a data processing device and a plurality of printing devices are connected to a network to print the print data of the data processing device. When printing the print data with the data processing apparatus, the method includes a step of selecting a desired printing apparatus from a plurality of printing apparatuses, and a step of displaying an installation position of the selected printing apparatus.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the same operation as the first aspect of the invention can be obtained.

Still further, according to the information processing method of the present invention, a fixed data processing device and a plurality of printing devices whose installation positions are fixed at least in a network, and a portable data processing device whose installation positions are not fixed Is connected to the portable data processing apparatus so as to print the print data, the fixed data processing apparatus stores layout display information of various devices connected to a network in advance. Accessing the fixed data processing device to obtain stored layout display information when printing print data with the portable data processing device; and selecting a desired printing device from a plurality of printing devices. And displaying the installation position of the selected printing apparatus based on the acquired layout display information. It is a symptom.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the same operation as that of the second aspect can be obtained.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method, comprising: a plurality of fixed data processing apparatuses and a plurality of printing apparatuses whose installation positions are fixed in a network; In an information processing method in which an apparatus is connected to print the print data of each data processing apparatus, layout display information of various devices connected to a network is provided to at least one of the fixed data processing apparatuses in advance. When printing the print data with any of the fixed data processing device and the portable data processing device having no layout display information, the fixed data processing device storing the layout display information is accessed. Obtaining the layout display information stored as a result, and selecting a desired printing device from the plurality of printing devices. It is characterized by comprising the step of displaying based on the acquired layout display information the installation position of the selected printing device.

According to the seventh aspect of the invention, the same operation as the third aspect of the invention can be obtained.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In one room, a portable information terminal PDA as a portable data processing device, a personal computer PC1 as a fixed data processing device, and the Internet are connected. A connectable personal computer PC2, a plurality of printers PR1 to PR3 as a printing device, and an image scanner IS as an input device are arranged, and each of these devices is, for example, a 2.4 GHz ISM (Industrial Scientifi).
c Medical) band is used as a carrier wave frequency, and a short-range wireless communication interface is provided. For example, a small-scale wireless network of about eight nodes can be formed.

In this small-scale wireless network, when each device is turned on, it is in a standby mode in which a link is not established, and each device only participates in receiving a message once in a predetermined time, thereby participating in the network. However, if there is a data transmission request or a data reception request in the portable information terminal PDA, the personal computers PC1 and PC2, and the image scanner IS, the device requesting the data transmission starts to acquire the service and becomes the master. Devices become slaves. The master enters a work of recognizing peripheral devices, forms a small-scale wireless network, selects a device that meets its own data transmission request or data reception request as a slave, and performs data transmission.

The printer PR1 is a laser printer capable of printing up to A0 size, for example, the printer PR2 is a laser printer capable of printing up to A3 size, and the printer PR3 is a color inkjet printer capable of printing up to A4 size. Each printer is composed of a personal computer PC1, PC
2 and the portable information terminal PDA, when there is an inquiry about the performance information via the small-scale wireless network, in response to the inquiry, the performance information such as its own size data, print speed data, and resolution data representing the print quality. Is transmitted to the personal computer PC1, PC2 or the portable information terminal PDA of the inquiry destination.

Each personal computer PC
As shown in FIG. 2, each of the PC1, PC2 and PDA includes a short-range wireless communication interface 1 for participating in a small-scale wireless network, and each printer PR.
Printer information registration unit 2 in which printer information is registered by installing a printer driver for printers PR1 and PR2, and printing device information for storing performance information such as printing speed and resolution indicating print quality collected from each of printers PR1 to PR3. Storage unit 3 and print data storage unit 4 for storing a print document as print data requested to be printed
The print document stored in the print data storage unit 4 is transferred to the printer PRn selected via the communication control unit 1.
(N = 1, 2, 3), a print control unit 5, an icon setting unit 6 for setting a printer icon, and a display for controlling a display 7 to display the icon set by the icon setting unit 6. A control unit 8 is provided, and these are totally controlled by a system control unit 9.

Here, as the print document, text data created by a word processor function, C
It consists of drawing data created by AD application software, image data input from an image scanner or a digital still camera, and other print data. Then, when a print document is generated and a print request for printing the print document is issued, the system control unit 9 determines the print speed of each of the printers PR1 to PR3, the resolution indicating print quality, the paper size, the color / monochrome, and the like. Collects performance information that represents printer performance, determines the priority of the printer that is most suitable for the print data for which a print request has been made, and displays this priority in terms of the size of the icons and the size of the font, depending on the visibility. Based on this priority order display, the user can select the optimum printer from each of the printers PR1 to PR3.
By selecting one of the printers PRn (n = 1, 2, 3), the installation position of the selected printer PRn is displayed, and the print data is transferred to the corresponding printer PRn via the small-scale network. Printing is performed.

The personal computer PC1 as a fixed data processing device includes at least personal computers PC1 and PC2 in the room and printers PR1 to PR1.
Layout display information for displaying the positions of the PR3 and the image scanner IS as icons is stored in association with the identification code names of the personal computers PC1, PC2 and the printers PR1 to PR3. By designating the identification code, the corresponding icon is displayed. It is configured to be controlled to a display state that can be distinguished from other icons.

Further, the portable information terminal PDA is connected to a personal computer PC via a small-scale wireless network.
1 to obtain layout display information stored in a storage medium, and store the layout display information in a storage medium such as a hard disk or a flash memory.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 3 showing an example of a print control processing procedure executed by the system control unit 9 of the portable information terminal PDA, for example.

The print control process shown in FIG. 3 is started when a print document is generated and a print request is issued. First, in step S1, the print document is stored in the print data storage unit 4, and then in step S1. The process shifts to S2, sets itself as a master, sets each of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 as a slave, transmits a layout display information request message, and then proceeds to step S2.
3 to determine whether or not the layout display information has been received. If the layout display information has not been received, the process waits until the layout display information has been received. If the layout display information has been received, the process proceeds to step S4 to receive the layout display information. After storing the layout display information in the recording medium 10 such as a hard disk or a flash memory, the process proceeds to step S5.

In this step S5, the printer itself is set as a master, each of the printers PR1 to PR3 registered in the printer information registration unit 2 is set as a slave, and a printer information transmission request is transmitted to each of them. Next, the process proceeds to step S6, in which it is determined whether or not the printer information has been received from all the printers PR1 to PR3. When printing device information is received from PR3, the process proceeds to step S7.

In step S7, each printer PR1
Based on the printing device information of PR3 to PR3, for example, the priority order is determined in the order of the printing speed, and the priority order is determined in the order of the resolution. Set the largest icon for the highest printer, set the next smaller icon for the next fastest printer and the next highest resolution printer, and set the slowest An icon having the smallest size is set for the printer having the lowest resolution, and the set icon data is stored in the icon data setting section 6.

Next, the process proceeds to step S9, in which the display data of the icons stored in the icon data setting unit 6 is output to the display 7 via the display unit 8, and the optimum printer is displayed as a large icon. The process proceeds to step S10 to determine whether any icon is selected by, for example, a mouse operation. If not, the process waits until the icon is selected, and if it is selected, the process proceeds to step S11 to select the icon. After transferring the print data stored in the print data storage unit 4 to the printer PRn corresponding to the icon, the process proceeds to step S12.

In step S12, layout display information stored in the storage medium 10 is read, layout display data for blinking and displaying an icon corresponding to the corresponding printer PRn is generated, and the layout display data is transmitted to the display controller 8. After that, the process ends.

In the print control process of FIG. 3, the processes of steps S2 to S4 correspond to the layout display information acquiring means, the processes of steps S5 to S10 correspond to the printing device selecting means, and the process of step S12 corresponds to the installation position. It corresponds to the display means.

Therefore, the personal computers PC1 and PC2, the printers PR1 to PR3, and the image scanner IS are fixedly arranged at arbitrary positions in one room, and a small-scale network is formed between these devices. Then, for example, using a drawing application of the personal computer PC1, layout display information representing the arrangement positions of various devices arranged in the room by icon display is created, and this is stored in a storage medium constituted by a hard disk, for example. .

In this state, a person in another department carries the portable information terminal PDA, enters the room, and enters the portable information terminal PD.
When A is activated, this portable information terminal PDA joins the small-scale network.

In this state, when a print document is generated by the portable information terminal PDA and a print request for printing the print document is issued, the print control process shown in FIG. 3 is started. First, in step S1, the print document is printed. Is stored in the print data storage unit 4, and in step S2, a layout display information request message requesting transmission of layout display information to each of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 is transmitted.

Each of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 that has received the layout display information request message determines whether or not the layout display information is stored. After setting the type information terminal PDA as a slave, the layout display information is transmitted to the portable information terminal PDA.

When the layout display information is received by the portable information terminal PDA, the process shifts from step S3 to step S4 in the print control processing of FIG. 3, and the layout display information is stored in a storage medium such as a flash memory, and then the step is repeated. The process proceeds to S5, in which the self is set as the master, and the printers PR1 to PR
R3 is set as a slave, and a print device information transmission request is sent to them.

Thus, each of the printers PR1 to PR3
When the printer device information including at least the printing speed and the resolution is received from all the printers PR1 to PR3, the process proceeds to step S4 to determine the priority order of the printers.

Here, for example, the printer PR1 has a printing speed of 50 sheets per minute and a resolution of 600 dpi.
Assuming that the printer PR2 has a printing speed of 30 sheets per minute and a resolution of 1200 dpi, and the printer PR3 has a printing speed of 15 sheets per minute and a resolution of 300 dpi, the priority of the printing speed is given. The higher order is PR1, PR2, and PR3, and the order of priority with respect to resolution is PR2, PR1, and PR3.

For this reason, the process proceeds to step S8, where an icon is set for the printing speed in the order of printers PR1, PR2 and PR3, and an icon is set for the resolution in the order of the printers PR2, PR1 and PR3. The set icon data is stored in the icon data setting unit 6.

Then, the process proceeds to step S9, where the set icon data is output to the display 7 via the display control unit 8, so that the print speed is displayed on the display screen 7a of the display 7 as shown in FIG. Is displayed in the order of smaller printer PR1, PR2 and PR3, and the resolution is
Icon display is performed in the order of 2, PR1, and PR3.

Therefore, when the user attaches importance to the printing speed, the user selects the largest icon in the item of the printing speed with the mouse, so that the print document stored in the print data storage unit 4 can be used for short-range wireless communication. The data is transferred from the interface communication control unit 1 to the printer PR1 via the small-scale network, and high-speed printing is performed.

At the same time, the process proceeds to step S12, where the layout display information stored in the storage medium 10 is read, and display information set to blink the icon of the corresponding printer PR1 is created. Output to the display control unit 8.

For this reason, the display screen 7a of the display 7
As shown in FIG. 5, the layout display of various devices in the room is performed, and the icon of the printer PR1 that is currently printing is blinking, so that the position of the printer that is printing can be visually recognized with certainty. The completed printing paper can be obtained without hesitation.

On the other hand, when the user attaches importance to the print quality, that is, the resolution, the user selects the largest icon in the item of the resolution with the mouse, and the print document stored in the print data storage unit 4 is transferred to the printer PR2. The image is transferred and high-resolution printing is performed, and a layout display in which the icon of the printer PR2 blinks is displayed on the display screen 7a of the display 7, so that the position of the printer during printing can be reliably visually recognized.

The other personal computer PC1
When a print request is issued, the printer itself is storing the layout display information, so that the printer being printed is blinked using the layout display information. In this case, since the layout display information is not stored, the storage medium 10 of the personal computer PC1 is accessed to acquire the layout display information and blink the printer being printed.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, when each of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 and the portable information terminal PDA receives a print request for a print document, the system control unit 9 executes the processing shown in FIG. Is executed, the printing speed and the priority of each resolution are represented by the size of the icon, and when an optimum printer according to the user's preference is selected, the layout of the selected printer represents the layout in the room. Since the display blinks, the position of the selected printing device can be visually recognized accurately, and even a user who has no knowledge of the arrangement of various devices in the room can easily confirm the printer position during printing. be able to.

Since the portable information terminal PDA obtains the layout display information from the external personal computer PC1, when there are a plurality of rooms where printers are installed, the layout display information for each room can be obtained. There is no need to store, and the storage capacity of the layout display information can be reduced.

Furthermore, since the layout display information is stored only in the personal computer PC1 serving as one fixed type data processing device, when the installation position of the printer is changed due to the change in the indoor layout, the personal computer PC1 is stored in the personal computer PC1. Since the change operation only needs to be performed on the stored layout display information, the change operation can be easily performed.

Furthermore, since the network composed of various devices in the room is composed of a small-scale wireless network using a short-range wireless communication interface, communication means can be simplified and miniaturized, and power consumption can be reduced. Can be achieved.

In the above embodiment, the case where the size of the icon is changed according to the priority has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As shown in FIG. May be displayed in the icon as a number indicating the priority.
As shown in the figure, the icons may be the same size and the font size representing the printer name may be reduced in descending order of priority, in other words, the priority is displayed with visibility that can be identified by the user What should I do?

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the priority is displayed for both the printing speed and the resolution has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the priority of either the printing speed or the resolution may be displayed. The print speed and / or the resolution priority may be displayed for both color printing and monochrome printing, and the printing paper size and the clarity of color printing may be prioritized. The order may be set.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the printer being printed in the layout display is blinked is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
The printer being printed may be displayed in a color or size that can be distinguished from other preset printers. In essence, any display can be used as long as the position of the printer that is currently printing can be specified. State.

Further, in the above embodiment, the personal computer PC2 and the portable information terminal PDA
Although the case where the layout display information is obtained from another personal computer PC1 when performing the printing process in the above has been described, the layout display information may be stored in a storage medium such as a flash memory or a hard disk in advance. In this case, the processing of steps S2 to S4 in the print control processing in FIG. 3 can be omitted.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case where the priority of the printer is determined in the print control processing has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the determination of the priority is omitted. An arbitrary printer may be selected according to the user's will. Further, the contents of the print document may be analyzed, and the optimum printer may be automatically selected. May be displayed in a layout that allows the user to recognize the image.

In the above embodiment, the case where a small-scale wireless network using a short-range wireless communication interface is constructed has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a wireless or wired local air network is formed. You may make it.

[0059]

As described above, according to the first and fifth aspects of the present invention, when printing data by a data processing apparatus, a desired printing apparatus is selected from a plurality of printing apparatuses by a printing apparatus selecting unit. When the printing device is selected manually or automatically, the installation position of the selected printing device is displayed on the installation position display means, so that the installation position of the printing device on which the print data is printed can be reliably recognized. In particular, when a user who uses a portable information terminal or the like that does not recognize the printer arrangement relationship in the room performs printing, an effect is obtained that printed paper can be easily and reliably obtained without being confused. Can be

According to the second and sixth aspects of the present invention, when the portable data processing device is connected to a network for printing, the layout display information of various devices stored in the fixed data processing device in advance. Is acquired by the layout display information acquisition unit, and when the printing device is manually or automatically selected by the printing device selection unit, the installation position of the selected printing device is displayed by the installation position display unit based on the layout display information. By doing so, it is possible to reliably recognize the installation position of the printing device on which the print data is printed, and it is not necessary to store the layout display information on the portable data processing device side. Thus, an effect is obtained that the printing paper printed by the printer can be easily obtained.

Further, according to the third and seventh aspects of the present invention, when printing via a network with a portable data processing device or a fixed data processing device that does not store layout display information, an existing fixed type The layout display information of various devices stored in advance in the data processing device is acquired by the layout display information acquisition unit, and when the printing device is manually or automatically selected by the printing device selection unit, the installation position display unit includes: By displaying the installation position of the selected printing device based on the layout display information, it is possible to reliably recognize the installation position of the printing device on which the print data is to be printed, and to print at the arbitrary printing device installation location. If the printing paper can be easily obtained and the layout display information is stored only in one fixed data processing device, There is an advantage that it is possible to easily change the layout display information when modifying the layouts.

Further, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the data transmission between the data processing device and the printing device is performed via the short-range wireless communication interface, the communication means can be simplified and miniaturized. The effect that power saving can be achieved is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a data processing device applicable to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a print control processing procedure executed by a system control unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen provided for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a layout display for explaining the operation of the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a display screen similar to FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing still another example of the display screen similar to FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 PC1, PC2 Personal computer PR1 to PR3 Printer PDA Portable information terminal 1 Short-range wireless communication interface 2 Printer information registration unit 3 Printing device information storage unit 4 Print data storage unit 5 Print control unit 6 Icon data setting unit 7 Display 8 Display control Unit 9 system control unit 10 storage medium

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hitoshi Yamamon 3-3-5 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano F-term in Seiko Epson Corporation (reference) 2C061 AP01 HH03 HJ08 HN05 HN15 HQ14 5B021 AA01 EE05

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus in which a data processing apparatus and a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to a network so as to print print data of the data processing apparatus, wherein the data processing apparatus includes a plurality of printing apparatuses. An information processing apparatus comprising: a printing device selection unit for selecting a desired printing device; and an installation position display unit for displaying an installation position of the printing device selected by the printing device selection unit. 2. A portable data processing apparatus wherein at least a fixed data processing apparatus and a plurality of printing apparatuses whose installation positions are fixed and a portable data processing apparatus whose installation positions are not fixed are connected to a network. In the information processing apparatus configured to print the print data, the fixed data processing apparatus includes a layout display information storage unit that stores layout display information of various devices connected to a network; The apparatus includes: a layout display information acquisition unit that accesses a layout display information storage unit of the fixed data processing device to acquire layout display information; and a printing device selection unit that selects a desired printing device from the plurality of printing devices. When a printing device is selected by the printing device selection means, the installation position of the printing device An information processing apparatus comprising: an installation position display unit for displaying based on the layout display information acquired by the layout display information acquisition unit. 3. An information processing apparatus, wherein at least a plurality of fixed data processing apparatuses and a plurality of printing apparatuses whose installation positions are fixed are connected to a network so as to print print data of each data processing apparatus. At least one of the plurality of fixed data processing apparatuses includes a layout display information storage unit that stores layout display information of various devices connected to a network, and the fixed data processing unit does not include the layout display information storage unit. Either the device or the portable data processing device accesses a layout display information storage device of the fixed data processing device to obtain layout display information, and a desired print from the plurality of printing devices. Printing device selecting means for selecting an apparatus, and when a printing device is selected by the printing device selecting means And an installation position display unit for displaying an installation position of the printing apparatus based on the layout display information acquired by the layout display information acquisition unit. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data processing apparatus and the printing apparatus form a network via a short-range wireless communication interface. 5. An information processing method in which a data processing device and a plurality of printing devices are connected to a network to print the print data of the data processing device, wherein the print data is printed by the data processing device. An information processing method comprising: selecting a desired printing device from a plurality of printing devices; and displaying an installation position of the selected printing device. 6. A portable data processing apparatus wherein at least a fixed data processing apparatus and a plurality of printing apparatuses whose installation positions are fixed and a portable data processing apparatus whose installation positions are not fixed are connected to a network. In the information processing method for printing the print data, the fixed data processing device stores layout display information of various devices connected to the network in advance, and the portable data processing device prints the print data. When printing
Obtaining the stored layout display information by accessing the fixed type data processing apparatus; selecting a desired printing apparatus from a plurality of printing apparatuses; and displaying the layout position of the selected printing apparatus. Displaying on the basis of the information. 7. A plurality of fixed data processing devices and a plurality of printing devices, each having at least a fixed installation position, and a portable data processing device having an unfixed installation position are connected to a network, and each of the data processing is performed. In an information processing method for printing print data of an apparatus, layout display information of various devices connected to a network is stored in at least one of the fixed data processing apparatuses in advance. When printing the print data in any of the fixed data processing device and the portable data processing device that do not have the layout display information stored in the storage device by accessing the fixed data processing device that stores the layout display information. Obtaining the printing device, selecting a desired printing device from a plurality of printing devices, and setting the installation position of the selected printing device. Displaying on the basis of the acquired layout display information.