JP2002099397A - Printer controller and storage medium with printer control program stored therein - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer controller capable of automatically extracting a printing area from a printer driver in which a compatibility area is desired to be realized and easily acquiring the same printing area, and a storage medium in which a printer control program is stored. SOLUTION: When a user gives an instruction for investigating the drawable area of other printer drivers and selects a paper size (S200 to S204), an area information extraction module 5 acquires the printing area information of the selected printer driver P1 (S206). When printing area information acquired by a printing area responding module 3 is transmitted to an application 2 (S208), the application 2 performs drawing in a format in line with the printing area information. The drawn image is processed by a graphic processing module 7, transmitted from an output port 8 to a printer and printed (S210).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage medium storing a printer control device and a printer control program. For example, the present invention relates to a printer control device and a printer control program for outputting print data from a personal computer, a workstation or the like. Related to the storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a user issues a print instruction to a printer from application software such as a word processor, the application software on a host computer obtains print condition settings from a printer driver and issues a print instruction. Do. One of the printing condition setting items acquired from the printer driver is a drawing area for each sheet. In the drawing area for each sheet, a value unique to the manufacturer of the printer is set. For example, when a report created using the printer driver of the A printer is set to be output by the B printer, ,
There is a case where the page break position of the print result printed by the B printer is different from the case of printing by the A printer.
In such a case, conventionally, the printer driver has a compatible area table for each printer, and the user specifies the area table with a check box or the like from a UI (user interface) at the time of executing printing. Unifying the compatibility of the printer to be printed, and then giving a print instruction. There is also a method in which a print area table for a specific printer is provided in the printer driver, and a print area unique to the printer is emulated.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-99724 discloses a setting means for setting a margin of a sheet, a calculating means for calculating a printable area based on the set margin, and a calculating means for calculating the printable area based on the calculated printable area. By providing enlargement / reduction means for enlarging / reducing print data, and layout means for laying out the enlarged / reduced print data and the margins on a sheet and controlling to print in the layout, a magnification ratio for the sheet size is provided. A print layout apparatus, a print layout method, and a storage medium for adjusting an area with a margin or a margin are described.

[0004]

However, the conventional method as described above can only support a limited print area of a printer, and some printers of the same manufacturer have different print areas. May not be available. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer control apparatus and a printer control program that can automatically extract a print area from a printer driver that the printer driver wants to realize a compatible area and can easily obtain the same print area. Is to provide a medium.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of printers each having a unique printer language and print area information are connected via a network, and print control of the connected printers is performed. A print area acquisition unit for acquiring print area information unique to the printer apparatus, and a printer unique to the printer apparatus based on the print area information acquired by the print area acquisition means. Conversion means for converting print data into a language and generating print data, and print data transmitting means for transmitting, via a network, the print data generated by the conversion means to a printer device whose print area information has been obtained by the print area obtaining means With the provision of the above, the above object is achieved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus further includes a storage unit for storing print area information unique to a plurality of printers acquired by the print area acquisition unit, and the conversion unit includes: The object is achieved by converting and creating print data based on print area information unique to the printer device stored in the storage means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a list display means for displaying a list of print area information unique to the printer device stored in the storage means to a user, The print area obtaining means achieves the above object by obtaining print area information unique to the printer connected via a network specified by a user based on a list display by the list display means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the printer control device is connected to a plurality of terminals via a network. In this case, the print area acquisition unit achieves the above object by acquiring print area information of a printer shared by the plurality of terminals.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the print area information obtaining means is connected to a print area information storage means storing a unique printer language and print area information via the Internet. The above object is achieved by obtaining print area information from the print area information storage means.

According to the present invention, a printer control program is connected to a plurality of printers having a unique printer language and print area information via a network, and controls printing of the connected printers. A print area acquisition function for acquiring the print area information unique to the printer device, and a printer unique to the printer device based on the print area information acquired by the print area acquisition function. A conversion function of converting print data into a language and creating print data, and a print data transmission function of transmitting the print data created by the conversion function to a printer device whose print area information has been acquired by the print area acquisition function via a network And a computer-readable printer for realizing the To achieve the object of which is stored as a control program.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the sixth aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a storage function of storing print area information unique to a plurality of printers acquired by the print area acquisition function, and the conversion function is The above object is achieved by converting and creating print data based on print area information unique to a printer device stored in the storage function.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the seventh aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a list display function for displaying a list of print area information unique to the printer apparatus stored by the storage function to a user, The print area acquisition function achieves the above object by acquiring print area information unique to the printer device connected via a network specified by a user based on a list display by the list display function.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the sixth, seventh, and eighth aspects of the present invention, the storage medium storing the printer control program includes a plurality of storage media via a network. When connected to a terminal, the print area acquisition function achieves the above object by acquiring print area information of a printer shared by the plurality of terminals.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, the print area information acquisition function is connected via the Internet to a print area information storage unit storing a unique printer language and print area information. By acquiring print area information from the print area information storage unit,
Achieve the above objectives.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printer control device according to the present embodiment. For the sake of explanation, it is assumed that the printer control device of the present embodiment is connected to a plurality of terminals such as PCs (personal computers) and workstations and a plurality of printer devices via a network.
The printer control device 20 includes a printer driver 1, an application 2, an output port 8, and a network port 9. The application 2 is installed in the printer control device 20, and the user operates the printer control device 2
Printer driver 1 in application 2 on
Is instructed to issue a print request. Here, the printer driver 1 is a device that converts a print request from a plurality of terminals such as PCs and workstations into a printer language unique to the printer device.

The printer driver 1 includes a print area response module 3, another driver investigation module 4, area information extraction module 5, information storage module 6, and graphic processing module 7. The print area response module 3 is a module in the printer driver 1,
In response to the print instruction from the application 2, the print area information that can be drawn by the printer designated as the print instruction is responded to the application 2. The area information extraction module 5 acquires print area information from the printer driver of each printer device on the network. The information storage module 6 stores the print area information acquired by the area information extraction module 5 as area data in a storage area.

The other driver check module 4 checks the printer driver of another printer device connected to the network, another printer driver installed in the printer control device 20, and print area information existing in a specified database. I do. Here, the designated database refers to a storage area in which the information storage module 6 stores area data that is print area information. The graphic processing module 7 creates data to be transmitted to the printer device. The network port 9 is an input / output port when the area information extraction module 5 refers to the database of each printer control device 20 on the network. The output port 8 transmits data generated by the graphic processing module 7 to the printer.

Hereinafter, the operation of the printer control device will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 to 6 and FIG. First, a first embodiment will be described. FIG.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the first embodiment in the printer control device. FIG. 3 shows the first
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a concept of a printer control device according to the embodiment. When issuing a print start instruction from the application 2 of the printer control device 20, the user is not required to use the printer device currently used (hereinafter referred to as the printer device N),
There is a case where it is desired to use a printer device used at the time of previous printing (that is, a printer device used at the time of last printing; hereinafter, referred to as a printer device P). In such a case, the user can select, from the UI, an instruction as to whether or not to check the drawing-enabled area of the printer driver P1 of the printer device P.

Here, when the user instructs to investigate the drawing area of the printer driver P1 (step 200;
Y), the other driver investigation module 4 selects the printer driver P1 of the printer P on the network (Step 202). Then, when the user selects a paper size in the application 2 (step 20).
4), the area information extraction module 5 acquires print area information of the selected printer driver P1 (step 2).
06). When the print area response module 3 transmits the obtained print area information to the application 2 (step 208), the application 2 performs drawing in a format according to the print area information. The image finally drawn in this manner is transmitted from the application 2 to the printer control device 2.
0, is processed by the graphic processing module 7, is transmitted from the output port 8 to the printer P, and is printed (step 21).
0).

On the other hand, if the user does not give an instruction to investigate the drawing area of the printer P (step 200; N),
The application 2 performs drawing according to the print information of the currently used printer device N, and executes printing (step 210). The printer control apparatus of the present embodiment acquires printable area information of another printer apparatus connected to the network,
Will draw according to this acquired print area information,
As shown in FIG. 3, the same print result can be obtained irrespective of the print area information held by the printer driver of each printer device.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the second embodiment in the printer control device. When the user wants to save print area information of a printer driver different from the currently used printer driver 1 already installed in the printer control device 20 (step 40).
0; Y), when an instruction to obtain print area information of the printer driver is issued from the UI, the printer driver of another printer is selected by the other driver investigation module 4 of the printer driver 1 (step 402). The area information extraction module 5 includes the other driver investigation module 4
All paper from the printer driver selected by
That is, for paper of various sizes such as A4 and B4,
Obtain printable area information (step 404),
The obtained print area information is stored in a storage area such as an HDD (hard disk drive) by the information storage module 6 (step 406).

In the printer control device according to the present embodiment, the information storage module can store the print area information extracted by the area information extraction module. There is no need to obtain the print area information, and even if the printer control apparatus does not have the target printer driver installed, the print area information can be obtained by accessing the storage area in which the print area information is stored.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the third embodiment in the printer control device. When the user wants to save the printable area information of all the printer devices on the network (step 500; Y), the other driver investigation module 4 searches all the printer drivers 1 already installed in the printer control device 20. (Step 502). When the other driver investigation module 4 searches for a printer driver of a printer device on the network that is not installed in the printer control device 20 based on the search result (step 504), the area information extraction module 5 determines the printer driver of the searched printer driver. One print area information is obtained (step 50)
6). Then, the information storage module 6 stores the acquired print area information in a storage area such as an HDD (Step 508). Until print area information is obtained for all printer devices on the network that are not installed in the printer control device 20 (step 510;
Y), the process of acquiring and storing the print area information of each printer device (steps 504 to 508) is repeated.

In the printer control apparatus according to the present embodiment, the other driver investigation module 4 can create a list of print area information of the printer drivers installed by the printer control apparatus 20, and the list is easily installed based on this list. It is possible to acquire the print area information of the printer device that does not have any.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the printer control device according to the fourth embodiment. When using another printer device on the network which is not installed in the printer control device 20, the user can select an instruction from the UI to determine whether or not to check the drawing area of the printer driver of the printer device. Here, when the user instructs to investigate the drawing area of the printer driver (Step 600; Y), the other driver investigation module 4 selects all the printer devices shared with other terminals existing on the network (Step 600). Step 60
2). Then, when the user selects a desired paper size from the printers selected in the application 2 (step 604), the area information extraction module 5
Acquires the print area information of the printer driver of the selected printer device (step 606).

When the print area response module 3 transmits the obtained print area information to the application 2 (step 608), the application 2 performs drawing in a format according to the print area information. The image finally rendered in this manner is passed from the application 2 to the printer driver 1 of the printer control device 20, processed by the graphic processing module 7, transmitted to the printer device from the output port 8, and printed. (Step 6
10). On the other hand, when the user does not give an instruction to check the drawing area of the printer device on the network (step 60).
0; N), the application 2 performs drawing according to the print information of the printer device N currently used, and executes printing (step 610). In the printer control device according to the present embodiment, even if the printer driver of the target printer device is not installed in the printer control device, it is possible to search for a shared printer on the network and obtain desired print area information.

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the fifth embodiment in the printer control device. In the present embodiment, a case will be described where there is a database in which printable area information of each printer device is stored. Note that the database is stored in the server device, and the print area information stored in the database is provided by the server device in response to access from a plurality of printer control devices connected via a network. It has become. In the present embodiment, the network is described as the Internet.

When the user prints from the application 2 and instructs the printer driver to check the drawable area stored in the database on the Internet (steps 700 to 702; Y), the area information extraction module 5 To obtain the print area information of the printer driver. The user selects a printer device to use from the acquired print area information (step 7).
04) When a paper size is selected from the database (step 706), the area information extraction module 5 acquires print area information of the printer driver of the selected printer device. When the print area response module 3 transmits the obtained print area information to the application 2 (step 608), the application 2 performs drawing in a format according to the print area information. The image finally rendered in this manner is passed from the application 2 to the printer driver 1 of the printer control device 20, processed by the graphic processing module 7, transmitted to the printer device from the printer port 8, and printed. (Step 710).

On the other hand, if the user selects not to check the printable area of the printer driver stored from the database on the Internet (step 702;
N), the process shifts to a process of performing printing from a printer connected to another network according to the first embodiment (step 712). In the printer control device of the present embodiment, even if the printer driver of the target printer device to be printed on the printer control device is not installed, the print area information can be automatically acquired from the database via the Internet, The compatible area of each printer can be easily recognized.

[0030]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a print area acquisition unit for acquiring print area information unique to a printer device, and a received print request based on the print area information acquired by the print area acquisition unit. A conversion unit that converts the data into a device-specific printer language and creates print data; and print data that transmits the print data created by the conversion unit to a printer device whose print area information has been acquired by the print area acquisition unit via a network. And transmitting means, so that the same print result can be obtained regardless of the print area of the printer driver.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is further provided storage means for storing print area information unique to a plurality of printers acquired by the print area acquisition means, and the conversion means comprises:
Since the print data is converted and created based on the print area information unique to the printer device stored in the storage means, it is not necessary to acquire the print area from another printer driver every time printing is performed, and the target printer driver can be used. An area can be acquired even on a PC that has not been installed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a list display means for displaying a list of the print area information unique to the printer device stored in the storage means to the user, and the print area obtaining means is provided by the user. Since the print area information unique to the printer connected via the specified network is acquired based on the list display by the list display means, the print area can be easily acquired.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the printer control device is connected to a plurality of terminals via a network, the print area obtaining means outputs the print area information of the printer shared by the plurality of terminals. , The shared printer on the network can be searched, and the print area information can be easily obtained.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the print area information obtaining means is connected via the Internet to the print area information storage means in which a unique printer language and print area information are stored, and prints from the print area information storage means. Since the area information is obtained, the print area can be automatically obtained from the database using the Internet, and the compatible area of the printer can be easily recognized.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a print area acquisition function for acquiring print area information unique to a printer apparatus, and a received print request based on print area information acquired by the print area acquisition function. And a print data transmission function of transmitting print data created by the conversion function to a printer device whose print area information has been acquired by the print area acquisition function via a network. Are stored as a computer-readable printer control program to be realized by a computer, so that the same print result can be obtained regardless of the print area of the printer driver.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a storage function for storing the print area information unique to a plurality of printers acquired by the print area acquisition function, and the conversion function comprises:
Since the print data is converted and created based on the print area information unique to the printer device stored in the storage function, it is not necessary to obtain the print area from another printer driver each time printing is performed, and the target printer driver can be used. An area can be acquired even on a PC that has not been installed.

According to the present invention, a list display function for displaying a list of print area information unique to the printer device stored by the storage function to a user is further provided.
The print area obtaining function obtains print area information unique to the printer connected via the network specified by the user based on the list display by the list display function, so that the print area can be easily obtained.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, when the storage medium storing the printer control program is connected to a plurality of terminals via a network, the print area acquisition function is provided by the printer shared by the plurality of terminals. Since the print area information of the device is obtained, the shared printer on the network can be searched, and the print area information can be easily obtained.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the print area information acquisition function is connected via the Internet to a print area information storage section in which a unique printer language and print area information are stored, and prints from the print area information storage section. Since the area information is obtained, the print area can be automatically obtained from the database using the Internet, and the compatible area of the printer can be easily recognized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printer control device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the first embodiment in the printer control device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a concept of a printer control device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a second embodiment in the printer control device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a third embodiment in a printer control device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a fourth embodiment in a printer control device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a printer control device according to a fifth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer driver 2 Application 3 Print area response module 4 Other driver investigation module 5 Area information extraction module 6 Information storage module 7 Graphic processing module 8 Output port 9 Network port

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A printer control device which is connected via a network to a plurality of printer devices each having a unique printer language and print area information, and controls printing of the connected printer devices. Print area acquisition means for acquiring area information; and conversion means for converting a received print request into a printer language specific to the printer device based on the print area information acquired by the print area acquisition means, and creating print data. Printer data transmission means for transmitting, via a network, print data created by the conversion means to a printer device whose print area information has been acquired by the print area acquisition means. apparatus. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit configured to store the print region information unique to the plurality of printers acquired by the print region acquisition unit, wherein the conversion unit includes a print device unique to the printer device stored in the storage unit. 2. The printer control device according to claim 1, wherein the print data is converted and created based on the area information. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a list display unit for displaying a list of print area information unique to the printer device stored in the storage unit to a user. 3. The printer control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein print area information specific to the printer connected via a specified network is acquired based on the list display. 4. When the printer control device is connected to a plurality of terminals via a network, the print area obtaining means obtains print area information of a printer shared by the plurality of terminals. The printer control device according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein 5. The print area information acquisition means is connected via the Internet to a print area information storage means in which a unique printer language and print area information are stored, and acquires print area information from the print area information storage means. The printer control device according to claim 1, wherein: 6. A storage medium connected to a plurality of printers having a unique printer language and print area information via a network, and storing a printer control program for controlling printing of the connected printers. A print area acquisition function for acquiring the print area information unique to the printer apparatus, and converting the received print request into a printer language unique to the printer apparatus based on the print area information acquired by the print area acquisition function. A computer realizes a conversion function of creating data, and a print data transmission function of transmitting, via a network, print data created by the conversion function to a printer device whose print area information has been acquired by the print area acquisition function. Computer-readable printer control program for causing Storage media. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage function for storing print area information unique to the plurality of printers acquired by the print area acquisition function, wherein the conversion function includes printing unique to the printer apparatus stored in the storage function. 7. The storage medium according to claim 6, wherein the print data is converted and created based on the area information. 8. A list display function for displaying a list of print area information unique to the printer device stored by the storage function to a user, wherein the print area acquisition function is performed by the user using the list display function. 8. The storage medium storing the printer control program according to claim 7, wherein print area information specific to the printer connected via a specified network is acquired based on the list display. 9. When a storage medium storing the printer control program is connected to a plurality of terminals via a network, the print area acquisition function performs printing of a printer shared by the plurality of terminals. 9. A storage medium storing the printer control program according to claim 6, wherein the storage medium acquires area information. 10. The print area information acquisition function is connected to a print area information storage section in which a unique printer language and print area information are stored via the Internet, and acquires print area information from the print area information storage section. A storage medium storing the printer control program according to claim 6.