JP2002318671A - Printing controller, printing system, printing control method, computer readable storage medium and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to freely change setting of a printing mode in a printer and a printing controller even in the case of the printing controller the GUI display of which is difficult. SOLUTION: The user is enabled to freely set the printing mode of a printer driver even in a printing system where a complicated user interface can not be displayed on a screen, by recognizing whether or not an image is pattern image so as to set the printing mode of the printer, deciding the printing mode based on the pattern image when the pattern image has been recognized, creating printing data according to the decided printing mode and transmitting the printing data to the printer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a print control device, a print system, a print control method, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program.
The present invention is suitable for use in a printing control device connected to a printing device and having difficulty in GUI display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing control apparatus connected to a printing apparatus, as a method of setting print contents of the printing control apparatus, a GUI is generally displayed on a display screen and setting is performed on the GUI. It is.

Various settings such as a print medium and a size of a print medium can be set as contents set on the GUI displayed on the display screen. However, in the case of a printing system in which it is difficult to display a GUI on the print control device, only a very limited set of items can be set.

In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, portable terminals and set-top boxes that can use the Internet and e-mail without using a computer such as a personal computer are becoming widespread. It is possible to connect and print Internet home pages and e-mail data.

[0005] The set-top box is a connection device for connecting a commercially available television receiver to the CATV system, and is generally called as it is placed on the television receiver.

The functions of the above set-top box were relatively simple, such as channel selection, setting of a pay channel, connection of a monitoring / warning terminal using a CATV line, etc. Communication function, Internet connection function, etc. have been added.

[0007]

However, the above set-top box has a limitation in a display area and its functions.
The print settings that can be changed are limited. Further, in the above-described conventional example, it is possible to provide the user with a selection unit that allows the user to sufficiently use the capabilities of the printing apparatus and the print control apparatus due to the limitation that GUI display is difficult. Did not. For this reason, conventionally, there was a problem that the user could only use a fixed setting or use only a limited set of contents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and allows a user to freely change settings of a printing apparatus and a print mode in the printing control apparatus even in a printing control apparatus in which GUI display is difficult. The purpose is to be able to.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus connected to a printing apparatus for controlling operation of the printing apparatus, wherein print data to be printed by the printing apparatus is stored in the printing apparatus. In order to set a print mode, it is determined whether or not the print image is a pattern image. If the print data is recognized as a pattern image, the print mode is determined based on the pattern image, and the determined print mode is determined. The print data is created in accordance with the following and transmitted to the printing apparatus. According to another feature of the present invention, in a printing control device connected to a printing device and controlling the operation of the printing device, print data to be printed by the printing device sets a print mode of the printing device. Pattern recognition means for recognizing whether or not the image is a pattern image, and a print mode for determining a print mode of the printing apparatus based on the recognized pattern image when the pattern image is recognized by the pattern recognition means. Determining means, print data creating means for creating print data in accordance with the print mode determined by the print mode determining means, and print data output means for transmitting the print data created by the print data creating means to the printing device. It is characterized by having. Another feature of the present invention is that the pattern image is stored in a server terminal connected via a line. Another feature of the present invention is that the output resolution, which is one of the print modes, is set based on the pattern image.

A printing system according to the present invention includes a printing device for printing print data on a recording medium, a server terminal storing a pattern image for setting a printing mode of the printing device, And a print control device described above.

A print control method according to the present invention is a pattern recognition process for obtaining print data to be printed by a printing apparatus and recognizing whether the obtained print data is a pattern image for setting a print mode of the printing apparatus. When the print data is recognized as a pattern image by the pattern image processing, the print mode determination processing for determining a current print mode based on the pattern image and the print mode determination processing A print mode obtaining process for obtaining the current print mode, a print data generating process for generating print data according to the current print mode obtained by the above print mode obtaining process, and printing of the print data generated by the above print data generating process. And print data output processing for transmitting the print data to the apparatus. Another feature of the present invention is that the pattern image is stored in a server terminal connected via a line. Another feature of the present invention is that the output resolution, which is one of the print modes, is set based on the pattern image.

A storage medium according to the present invention is characterized in that a program for causing a computer to configure each of the above-described means is recorded. Another feature of the present invention is that a program for causing a computer to execute the print control method according to any of the above is recorded.

[0013] A computer program according to the present invention causes a computer to execute any one of the print control methods described above.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, referring to the attached drawings, a print control apparatus, a print system, a print control method, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer according to the present invention will be described.
An embodiment of a program will be described.

First, an outline of the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described. The printing system according to the present embodiment includes:
A non-overlapping pattern image representing the contents of each print setting is created, and each is prepared as separate print data.

Each data is printable data like any data to be printed by the user.
There is data that can be displayed using a display device. Next, means for storing individual data in a storage device such as a server that can be used by a user and printing the data in accordance with a command from the user is provided.

On the other hand, there is provided a print control device for converting print data into printable data in accordance with a command from a user and transmitting the data to a printing device. The print control device includes a pattern recognition unit that recognizes a specific pattern, and a unit that changes a print mode setting in the print control device when the pattern recognition unit recognizes the specific pattern. The specific pattern is nothing but a pattern image representing the print setting described above.

In the print control device, by performing pattern recognition on the specific pattern with respect to the print target data, it is determined whether the print target data is print setting data or normal print data. When the data is recognized as the print setting data, the print mode that the corresponding pattern means is changed. Further, even when the data is recognized as the print setting data, the same data is printed in the same manner as the normal data, thereby guaranteeing printing of any data.

By providing these means, the user can change the print mode in the print control apparatus by printing the pattern image registered in the server or the like, and the print control in which GUI display is difficult is performed. The printing mode can be freely set in the apparatus. In addition, the user can change the previous setting or change to a new setting by printing the print setting data again.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a print control device, a print system, a print control method, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program according to the present embodiment.

Hereinafter, the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that, in the present embodiment, a W
Although an embodiment using a set-top box such as ebTV (terminal with a built-in WWW browser) will be described, the present invention is also effective in other print control devices. Further, in the present embodiment, an embodiment in which the output resolution is set as one of the print modes as the setting content will be described. However, the present invention is also effective when performing other settings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration diagram of hardware on which a print control apparatus according to the present embodiment operates. The print control apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a set-top box 1 having a printer driver including the functions of the present invention described later, a display television 12, a server 13 including setting data used in the present invention, and a printer 14. It has a hardware configuration.

Further, the set-top box 1 and the television 1
2 is connected by a data transfer interface such as a video interface, and an output from the set-top box 1 is displayed on the television 12.

Further, the set-top box 1 and the server 1
3 is connected by a communication interface such as a telephone line,
Functions such as e-mail and Internet browsing can be used on the set-top box 1 based on data from the server.

Further, the set-top box 1 and a printer 14 described later are connected by a communication interface. Further, the server 13 stores print setting data 15 used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the print setting data 15 in FIG. 1 described above. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes data representing the print setting data 15 in FIG. 1, and includes an image pattern indicating the print setting. The print setting data 21 is also valid as print data.

Reference numeral 22 denotes an enlarged view of the print setting data 21, which is an image pattern representing low-resolution setting data. Reference numeral 23 denotes an image pattern representing high-resolution setting data.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the print control apparatus according to the present embodiment. The print control device according to the present embodiment is generally constituted by a set-top box 1 and a printer 14.

The set-top box 1 includes a printer driver 2 having a print image acquisition unit 3, a pattern recognition unit 4, a print mode determination unit 5, a print data creation unit 6, and a print data output unit 7, and a print mode setting unit. The configuration includes a setting storage area 8 for storing data and a data transmission unit 9. Further, the printer 14 includes a data receiving unit 141, a data printing unit 142, and the like.

The above configuration will be described in detail. The set-top box 1 and the printer 14 are bidirectional Centronics (one of the interface standards for connecting a personal computer and a printer. (About 150 to 200 KB / sec).

The set-top box 1 includes a print image acquisition unit 3, a pattern recognition unit 4, a print mode determination unit 5, a print data creation unit 6, a print data output unit 7, a setting storage area 8,
The data transmission unit 9 executes the processing shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5 described later.

The printer 14 prints the print data transmitted from the data transmission section 9 of the set-top box 1
The data is received by the data receiving unit 141 and the data
In step 2, printing is executed.

In the set-top box 1, the print image obtaining section 3 obtains an original image to be printed. The pattern recognition unit 4 analyzes and determines whether the print data obtained by the print image obtaining unit 3 is print setting data.

The print mode determination unit 5 includes a pattern recognition unit 4
If the print data is determined to be print setting data, the print mode is determined according to the contents. Print data creation unit 6
Creates print data to be transmitted to the printer 14 from the print data obtained by the print image obtaining unit 3.

The data transmission section 9 actually manages communication with the printer 14, and transmits print data to the printer 14. The setting storage area 8 is used for storing the print mode determined by the print mode determination unit 5.

In the printer 14, the data receiving unit 14
Reference numeral 1 actually controls communication with the set-top box 1, and receives print data from the set-top box 1. The data printing unit 142 is provided for the set-top box 1
It analyzes the received print data and performs actual printing.

FIG. 6 is a data explanatory diagram showing an example of the storage contents of a storage medium on which the program of the present embodiment is recorded. The storage medium of the present embodiment stores, for example, data such as volume information 61, directory information 62, and a program execution file 63.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a conceptual diagram in which the program of the present embodiment is supplied from an apparatus having a storage medium. The program according to the present embodiment is supplied to a server 72 having a storage medium, and is transmitted to the set-top box 71 via a communication interface such as a telephone line.

The supplied program of this embodiment is:
Once installed on a hard disk (not shown) in the set-top box 71, the RA
M, or by directly loading the RAM without installing it on the hard disk, print control can be executed.

Next, the operation of the printer driver 2 of the set-top box 1 of the print control apparatus according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 15 denotes print setting data, which is stored on the server 13. The print setting data 15 is printable data, and can be printed in the same manner as other print data according to a print command from a user.

The print setting data 15 is stored in the server 13.
The print setting data is explicitly registered above, so that the user can determine the print setting data. That is, the user prints the print setting data 15 in the same manner as printing normal data. Also,
When the user prints the print setting data 15 as print data, a printer driver 2 in FIG. 3 described later is started.

In FIG. 3, first, when the printer driver process in the set top box 1 of the print control device is started, the printer driver 2 obtains print data in the print image obtaining unit 3 (step S41).

The print data obtained in step S41 is passed to a pattern recognizing unit 4 for performing processing described later, and the pattern recognizing unit 4 and the print mode determining unit 5 perform pattern recognition processing and print mode determination. Is changed (step S42).

Next, the print data creation section 6 obtains the current setting resolution from the setting storage area 8 (step S43), and determines whether or not the resolution is high (step S44).

If the result of this determination is that the current setting is high resolution, print data for high resolution is created (step S46), and if low resolution is set, print data for low resolution is created. Create data (step S4
5).

The above processing is performed, and the print data created in steps S45 and S46 is transmitted to the printer 14 in the print data output section 7 and the data transmission section 9 (step S47). The above processing is executed regardless of whether the print data is print setting data.

Next, the pattern recognition processing in step S42 in FIG. 4 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The print setting data 21 in FIG. 2 is data registered in the server 13, and the image pattern differs for each setting content.

Reference numerals 22 and 23 are enlarged views of the pattern. These patterns are subjected to pattern recognition in the processing in FIG. 5 described later, and the method used for this pattern recognition is a general algorithm.

In the printer driver 2 shown in FIG. 3, the pattern recognition unit 4 and the print mode determination unit 5 determine whether the data is print setting data and determine the print mode. First,
A determination process is performed to determine whether the pattern represents a high resolution (step S51).

If the result of this determination is that the pattern indicates a high resolution, the process proceeds to step S52, where the current setting resolution is set to the high resolution, and is stored in the setting storage area 8 and the process is terminated.

Further, as a result of the judgment processing in step S51,
If the pattern is not a high-resolution pattern, the process proceeds to step S53 to determine whether the pattern represents a low-resolution pattern. If the pattern represents a low resolution, step S
The process proceeds to S54, where the process is saved in the setting save area 8 as in step S52, and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S53 that the pattern does not represent a low resolution, the process is terminated. The above is the operation in the printer driver 2 according to the present embodiment.

(Other Embodiments of the Present Invention) The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device.

Further, in order to operate various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, a device connected to the various devices or a computer in a system is supplied from a storage medium or the Internet or the like. A program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment is supplied via a transmission medium, and a computer (CPU or M
The present invention also includes those implemented by operating the various devices according to the program stored in the PU.

In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to a computer, for example, the program The storage medium storing the code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-R
An OM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions described in the above embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) on which the program code runs on the computer. Alternatively, it is needless to say that the program code is included in the present embodiment even when the functions shown in the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with other application software or the like.

Further, after the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the function expansion unit is specified based on the instruction of the program code. The present invention also includes a case where a CPU or the like provided in or performs some or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is determined whether or not the image is a pattern image for setting the print mode of the printing apparatus. Since the print mode is determined based on the image and the print data is created and transmitted to the printing apparatus according to the determined print mode, even in a printing system in which a complicated user interface cannot be displayed on the screen, printing is performed. The user can freely set the print mode of the apparatus. Further, by printing the print setting data again, it is possible to change to the previous setting or change to the new setting.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of hardware on which a print control device according to the present invention operates.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating print setting data used by the print control device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a printer driver process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a pattern recognition process in the printer driver according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of storage contents of a storage medium on which a program according to the embodiment is recorded.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a conceptual diagram in which a program is supplied from an apparatus having a storage medium.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 set-top box 2 printer driver 3 print image acquisition unit 4 pattern recognition unit 5 print mode determination unit 6 print data creation unit 7 print data output unit 8 setting storage area 9 set-top box data transmission unit 12 display television 13 server 14 printer 141 Data receiving unit of printer 142 Data printing unit 15 Print setting data 21 Print setting data 22 Image pattern representing low-resolution setting data 23 Image pattern representing high-resolution setting data 61 Volume information 62 Directory information 63 Program execution file 71 Set-top box 72 Server

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 HH03 HJ08 HJ10 HK11 HM07 HN02 HN05 HN08 HN15 HQ17 5B021 AA01 BB01 BB02 KK02 5C064 BA07 BB10 BC18 BC25 BD02 BD08 BD09

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A printing control device connected to a printing device for controlling the operation of the printing device, wherein print data to be printed by the printing device is a pattern image for setting a printing mode of the printing device. If the print data is recognized as a pattern image, a print mode is determined based on the pattern image, and print data is created in accordance with the determined print mode and transmitted to the printing device. A print control device. 2. A printing control device connected to a printing device for controlling an operation of the printing device, wherein print data to be printed by the printing device is a pattern image for setting a printing mode of the printing device. Pattern recognition means for recognizing whether or not the pattern image is recognized by the pattern recognition means; print mode determination means for determining a print mode of the printing apparatus based on the recognized pattern image; A print data generating means for generating print data in accordance with the print mode determined by the means, and a print data output means for transmitting the print data generated by the print data generating means to the printing device. apparatus. 3. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the pattern image is stored in a server terminal connected via a line. 4. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an output resolution, which is one of print modes, is set based on the pattern image. 5. A printing apparatus for printing print data on a recording medium, a server terminal storing a pattern image for setting a printing mode of the printing apparatus, and a server terminal according to claim 1. A printing system, comprising: the printing control device according to any one of the first to third aspects. 6. A pattern recognition process for obtaining print data to be printed by a printing device and recognizing whether or not the obtained print data is a pattern image for setting a print mode of the printing device; When the print data is recognized as a pattern image, a print mode determination process for determining a current print mode based on the pattern image and a current print mode determined by the print mode determination process are obtained. Print mode acquisition processing, print data creation processing for creating print data according to the current print mode acquired by the print mode acquisition processing, and print data for sending the print data created by the print data creation processing to a printing device. And a print control method comprising an output process. 7. The print control method according to claim 6, wherein the pattern image is stored in a server terminal connected via a line. 8. The print control method according to claim 6, wherein an output resolution, which is one of the print modes, is set based on the pattern image. 9. A computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to configure each means according to claim 1. Description: 10. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the print control method according to any one of claims 6 to 8. 11. A computer program for causing a computer to execute the print control method according to any one of claims 6 to 8.