JP2003084948A - Printing control device, and printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily set an optimum printable range in a group printer driver which controls plural member printer drivers. SOLUTION: Information related to printable ranges respectively held by the member printer drivers is obtained, and based on the obtained information of the printable ranges, the optimum printable range is determined for the group printer driver.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control apparatus and print control method for performing print processing in response to a drawing command from an application, a computer-executable print data processing program, and a computer-readable program. The present invention relates to a storage medium storing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, network devices have been commonly used, and many personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs) and printers have been connected to the network. In such a network environment, when printing, for a document with a large number of pages or a large number of copies, in order to reduce the printing time, the print job is spooled once and then printed on multiple pages by page or by copy. There is known a print job control system (distributed printing system) that distributes and outputs the data to each other.

Further, in such a network environment, in order to reduce the cost and the printing time at the time of printing one document in which color pages and monochrome pages are mixed, the color pages are sent to the color printer and the monochrome page. Is known as a print job control system (color / monochrome distributed printing system) for distributed output to a monochrome printer.

Further, in such a network environment, there is known a print job control system (broadcast printing system) which simultaneously transmits one document to a plurality of printers by one printing instruction and prints it.

Further, in such a network environment, for a document sent to one printer,
There is known a print job control system (error proxy printing system) that automatically switches to another printer and prints when an error occurs in that printer.

[0006]

However, even when printing on paper of the same size, the printable area that can be printed may differ depending on the printer used, and the print job control system can distribute the printable area by using a plurality of printers. Efficient settings such as batch setting to obtain normal printouts in consideration of the characteristics (printable area) peculiar to each printer when printing such as broadcast or proxy. There was no way.

According to the conventional setting method, it is possible to check the printable area of each printer and set the same print area for each printer or each printer driver within the printable range of all printers. However, a complicated operation for individually setting was necessary.

In addition, when a print instruction for a plurality of connected printers is set with respect to a print area such as a margin by a single virtual printer driver that is a collection of the printers, the print area of a certain printer is set. If a print instruction is issued in accordance with the above, there is a possibility that print missing will occur in other printers, and in order to obtain a normal printed output, the user also checks the printable area of each printer and I had to find the printable area myself.

Further, when a print process for a plurality of printers is assumed, a combination of a plurality of printers may be changed, and normal printing is performed for the thus changed combination of a plurality of printers. In order to set the printable area so that an output product can be obtained, the user also needs to check the print areas of the individual printers and set the print areas.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in a printing environment such as distributed printing or proxy printing for a plurality of printers, it is possible to set a printable area that is highly convenient for the user. It is to provide a mechanism that can.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an acquisition step of acquiring printable area information of each of a plurality of printers, and a plurality of printers of the plurality of printers acquired in the acquisition step. And a determination step of determining an optimum printable area from each printable area information.

More preferably, the acquisition step is
A group printer driver capable of controlling a plurality of member printer drivers inquires and obtains printable area information from the plurality of member printer drivers,
The determining step determines the optimum printable area from the printable area information of each of the plurality of member printer drivers acquired by the inquiry.

More preferably, when printing to a plurality of printers, a control step for controlling to include a value based on the optimum printable area determined in the determining step in a user interface capable of designating a representative printable area is provided. A mechanism characterized by further having is provided.

More preferably, the value based on the optimum print area determined in the determining step is a predetermined value,
Alternatively, it provides a mechanism characterized by a value indicating a predetermined range.

More preferably, the group printer driver can control a plurality of types of output methods, and the determining step changes the optimal printable area determination method according to the types of the plurality of output methods. It provides a mechanism that is characterized by the control.

More preferably, the plurality of member printer drivers constitute the group printer driver, and the method further comprises a determining step of determining whether or not the configuration of the plurality of member printer drivers has been changed. If the determination result of the determination step is a determination that the configurations of the plurality of member printer drivers have been changed, the determination step determines a new optimum printability based on the printable area information of each of the changed printers. Provide a mechanism characterized by determining the area.

More preferably, the obtaining step obtains the IDs of the plurality of member printer drivers, and if the combination of the obtained IDs has been changed, the determining step includes the change of the plurality of printers. A mechanism that determines a new optimum printable area from each printable area information is provided.

More preferably, in response to proxy printing being performed from a predetermined printer operating the printing process to another printer, selection is made to select a printer other than the predetermined printer as the proxy printing destination. A printable area in the proxy printing destination printer selected in the selecting step is set as a printable area set based on the optimum printable area determined in the determining step. To provide a mechanism.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment suitable for applying the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention can be applied. It is assumed that one or a plurality of client computers are connected in this system.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 102, 103, and 104 denote information processing devices as client computers (clients), which are connected to a network 106 by a network cable such as Ethernet (registered trademark), and various programs such as application programs. And a printer driver having a function of converting print data into a printer language compatible with the printer. The printer driver is supposed to support a plurality of printer drivers.

Reference numeral 101 denotes an information processing apparatus as a server (hereinafter, referred to as a print server) of the present embodiment, which is connected to the network 106 by a network cable and stores files used in the network and stores data in the network 106. Monitor usage.
The print server 101 manages a plurality of printers connected to the network 106.

As the configuration, the clients 102 to 10
4 and the print server 101 are general information processing apparatuses, and print control programs for performing different controls are executably stored in the client and the print server, respectively. The print server 101 is a general information processing apparatus, and can also have the functions of the clients 102 to 104 at the same time.

The print server 101 in this embodiment
Further includes client computers 102, 103,
A print job including print data for which a print request has been issued by the print request 104 is stored and printed, or only job information that does not include print data is received from the client computers 102, 103, 104. The print order is managed, the transmission permission of the print job including the print data is notified to the client in the print order, the status of the network printer 105 and various information of the print job are acquired,
Functions are provided to notify the client computers 102, 103, 104.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a network printer which is a print control device, and is connected to the network 106 via a network interface (not shown).
A print job including print data transmitted from a client computer is analyzed, converted into a dot image page by page, and printed page by page. 106 is a network, and client computers 102, 103,
104, the server 101, the network printer 105, etc. are connected.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The client computers 102, 103 and 104 which are the information processing apparatuses have the same configuration, and the server 101 also has the same or equivalent hardware. Wear configuration. Therefore, it will be described as a block diagram for explaining the configurations of the client and the server.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 denotes a CPU which is a control means of the information processing apparatus, and is a hard disk (HD) 2
The application program, the printer driver program, the OS, the network printer control program of the present invention, and the like stored in 05 are executed, and the RAM 202 is controlled to temporarily store the information and files necessary for executing the program.

Reference numeral 201 denotes a ROM as a storage means, which internally stores programs such as a basic I / O program, font data used in document processing, various data such as template data. Reference numeral 202 denotes a RAM that is a temporary storage unit, and functions as a main memory of the CPU 200, a work area, and the like.

Reference numeral 203 denotes a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) drive as a storage medium reading means. As shown in FIG. 5, which will be described later, the computer stores programs stored in an FD 204 as a storage medium through the FD drive 203. Can be loaded into the system. The storage medium is not limited to the FD, but may be a CD-ROM,
CD-R, CD-RW, PC card, DVD, IC memory card, MO, memory stick, etc. are optional.

A floppy disk (FD) 204 is a storage medium, and is a storage medium in which a computer-readable program is stored.

Reference numeral 205 denotes one of external storage means, which is a hard disk (HD) that functions as a large-capacity memory, and stores an application program, a printer driver program, an OS, a network printer control program, related programs, and the like. Further, the spooler which is the spool means is secured here. The spool means is a client spooler for a client and a server spooler for a print server.
Further, the print server stores the job information received from the client, and a table for performing order control is also generated and stored in this external storage means.

Reference numeral 206 denotes a keyboard which is an instruction input means, and is used by the user to input instructions such as device control command instructions to the client computer and to the print server from the operator or administrator.

Reference numeral 207 denotes a display which is a display means for displaying a command input from the keyboard 206, the printer status, and the like.

Reference numeral 208 denotes a system bus, which controls the flow of data in a computer that is a client or a print server.

Reference numeral 209 denotes an interface which is an input / output means, and the information processing apparatus exchanges data with an external device via the interface 209.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of the RAM 202 shown in FIG. 2, in which the network printer control program loaded from the FD 204 is R
It is a memory map in a state where it is loaded into the AM 202 and becomes executable.

In this embodiment, the network printer control program and related data are directly read from the FD 204.
An example in which the network printer control program is loaded and executed in the AM 202 is shown. However, other than this, each time the FD 204 operates the network printer control program, the network printer control program may be loaded from the HD 205 to the RAM 202. .

Further, the medium for storing the network printer control program is a CD-ROM, a CD in addition to the FD.
-R, PC card, DVD, IC memory card may be used. Further, it is also possible to store the network printer control program in the ROM 201, configure it as a part of the memory map, and execute it directly by the CPU 200.

Further, software that realizes the same function as each of the above-described devices can be configured as an alternative to the hardware device.

The network printer control program may be simply referred to as a print control program. The print control program includes a program for performing control to instruct the client to change the print destination of the print job or to change the print order, and to control the order of the print jobs in the print server. , A program for notifying the end of printing of a print job or a request for changing the print destination. Further, in the print control program of the present invention which performs such control, the module installed in the client and the module installed in the print server may be separated separately, or one print control program is executed. It may function as a client or as a print server depending on the environment. Alternatively, it is possible to install a module having a client function and a module functioning as a print server in a single computer, and operate the modules simultaneously or in a time-divisional manner in parallel.

Reference numeral 301 denotes a basic I / O program, which is output from the HD 205 when the power of the control device is turned on.
S is an area in which a program having an IPL (Initial Program Loading) function or the like that is read into the RAM 202 and starts the operation of the OS is stored.

Reference numeral 302 denotes an operating system (O
S) is a network printer control program 303, which is stored in an area secured in the RAM 202. Reference numeral 304 is related data, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. A work area 305 is a CPU
An area for executing the printer control program 200 is secured.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of the FD 204 shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, 400 is the data contents of the FD 204, 401 is volume information indicating information of data, 402 is directory information, and 403 is a network printer control which is a print control program described in this embodiment. A program, 404, is the related data. The network printer control program 403 is a program based on the flowcharts described in the embodiments, and in this embodiment, both the client and the server have the same configuration.

FIG. 5 shows the FD drive 203 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the relationship with FD204 inserted with respect to, and the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same thing as FIG.

In FIG. 5, the FD 204 stores the network printer control program and related data described in this embodiment.

Next, a print job control system according to the present embodiment will be described in which a plurality of printers are used to perform the above-mentioned print processing such as distribution, broadcast, and proxy.

In this embodiment, a printer that virtually bundles a plurality of printers as one printer is called a group printer, and a printer that is bundled is called a member printer. The printer drivers corresponding to them are called a group printer driver and a member printer driver, respectively.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing how a print job issued from a general application such as Microsoft Word in the client server model of this system is processed in the print job control system. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 600 denotes a client machine, which is a machine in which the client module of the print job control system operates.

Normally, when a printing instruction is given, the application program generates a series of drawing commands, and the Windows (registered trademark) Spool is passed through the printer driver.
passed to er. Windows Spooler
The print job data is passed to the port monitor selected by the user and transmitted to the printer device.

In the present embodiment, the user has in advance a port monitor 621 for the print job control system (hereinafter,
In this embodiment, the job control port monitor is abbreviated) to instruct printing. Application program 601
Generates a series of drawing commands. The group printer driver 603 that has received the drawing command generates a general-purpose print file and sends it as print job data to the job control port monitor 621 instead of the port monitor that sends print job data to the printer device. The job control port monitor 621 does not send the print job data to the printer device 650, but sends it to the print job control system print service 622 (hereinafter, abbreviated as job control print service in this embodiment). The job control print service 622 performs print job control processing, which will be described later, on the print job data.

The print job control system print manager 623 (hereinafter, abbreviated as job control print manager in this embodiment) allows the user to check the state of the print job in the job control print service 622, It is a program that provides a user interface (UI) for operating a print job. The job control print manager 623 exchanges information and instructions with the job control print service 622 via the software interface (API) of the job control print service 622.

Print job control system server 630
(Hereinafter, abbreviated as a job control server in this embodiment) centrally controls (schedules) the timing at which the job control print service 622 on each client 600 transmits print job data to the printer device 650.

The print job control system management console 633 (hereinafter, abbreviated as job control management console in this embodiment) is the job control server 6
The entire print job control system can be monitored by exchanging information / instructions with the job control server 630 via the API for access by the software included in 30.

Further, the job control server 630 communicates with each printer device 650 by using the device information control module 631 to obtain information on print jobs and operating states in each printer and to perform operations. The obtained information can be passed to the job control print service 622 on the client 600 side.

Printing from the group printer driver 603 in this embodiment will be described below.

The group printer driver 603 converts a series of drawing commands generated by the application program into a general-purpose print file that is an intermediate format file that does not depend on the type of printer device. The structure of this general-purpose print file will be described later.

This general-purpose print file has the W
It is guided from the Windows spooler 604 through the job control port monitor 621 (a) to the job control print service 622 (b). The job control print service 622 generates a drawing command based on the general-purpose print file according to the type of job control to be performed for this print job (c), and then the PDL driver 602 sends the drawing command to the printer device 650. PD that can be interpreted
Make it an L file. In FIG. 6, an example in which the job control print service 622 performs job control for dividing a print job into two for this print job, and an example in which two member jobs are generated is shown by two arrows (c). There is. The PDL file generated by the PDL driver 602 passes through the Windows spooler 604 and the job control port monitor 621 (d), and is passed to the job control print service 622 again (e). The job control print service 622 transmits PDL print job data to the printer device 650 according to an instruction from the job control server 630 (f).

The job control print service 622 logically divides one general-purpose print file into a plurality of print jobs according to the instruction of the print instruction in the general-purpose print file, and sends the print jobs to different printer devices. The print job data once sent is sent again to another printer device. (C) in Figure A
(D), (e), and (f) show the route of print job data in such a case.

On the other hand, when a general-purpose print file is created by application software and the application software directly inputs the general-purpose print file as a print job, a general application is a method of passing information to the group printer driver 603 or a group printer. The processing content of the driver 603 is different. As described above, in the case of a general application, when the application passes the drawing information to the group printer driver 603, the window is the same as the normal printer driver in Windows.
The GDI function of s is called, and the group printer driver 603 generates a general-purpose print file accordingly. On the other hand, in the case of an application that directly creates a general-purpose print file, the application already has the general-purpose print file, and the group printer driver 603
Supply to. The group printer driver 603 rewrites the print instruction in the general-purpose print file based on the preset printing method as necessary, and
Send to ws Spooler 604.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a general-purpose print file. The general-purpose print file used in this embodiment includes a print instruction section 8-a and a document data section 8-b. The print instruction section is a section in which the information of the document and the print instruction are described. Further, the document data is data obtained by converting application document data into data of a general-purpose format, and has a data format that does not depend on the printer language. The print instruction section includes a header section, a page information section, a print format instruction section, an output method designating section, a group printer driver setting information section,
It includes a member printer number, a member printer driver name, a member printer driver setting information section, and the like.
The header part is a part for storing information such as version identification of this file and file information.

The page information section is the document data section 8
-B is a part for storing information such as the number of pages of document data and the size of each page. The print format instruction section is a section that stores information regarding output format such as a print page range, the number of copies, imposition information of document data (N-UP, bookbinding printing, etc.), stapling instructions, punching instructions, and the like.

The output method designating section is a section for storing information such as distributed printing, color / monochrome distributed printing, proxy printing, and broadcast printing as an output method. The group printer driver setting information section is a section for storing UI setting information of a group printer driver described later.

The number of member printers is a part for storing the number of member printers associated with the group printer driver. The member printer driver name is a part that stores the printer driver name of the member printer.

The member printer driver setting information section is, for example, DE as the setting information of the driver UI of the member printer.
This is a part for storing printer driver setting item information of Windows System called VMODE.

The member printer driver name and the member printer driver setting information section have as many storage areas as the number of member printers described above. In the group printer driver 603 described with reference to FIG.
When the general-purpose print file is generated, the settings on the group printer driver GUI are recorded in the print instruction unit 8-a. Further, the group printer driver 603 converts the data received by GDI into general-purpose data and records it as document data in the document data part of this general-purpose print file.

This file may be a file in which the print instruction section 8-a and the document data section 8-b are different. In this case, the print instruction section exists as a print instruction file and the document data section exists as a document data file, and it is possible to combine them in one archive format and treat them like one file.

Next, in FIG. 7, Pr provided by Windows
The relationship between the intSystem and the print job in the print job control system and the processing outline will be described in more detail.

In FIG. 7, a print job control system 700 is shown.
Shows a range of print job control systems that span physical machines on which server and client control programs run. An output port (Output Port) 711 managed by the server is a proxy output port (Proxy Output Port) 71 of the job control print service 622 of the client.
All of the proxy output ports on each client, which are associated with 2 and are associated with one port, are uniformly managed. In this embodiment, the actual print job data is the proxy output port 71 of each client.
Held at 2. The job control server 630 does not transmit the print job data itself, but only issues a print job transmission instruction to the job control print service 622. In response to the instruction, the job control print service 622 of the client sends print job data to the device 650.

Next, the print job control system 700
A process for performing value-added printing such as proxy printing, distributed printing, and broadcast printing will be described. When the print job control system 700 performs value-added printing such as proxy printing, distributed printing, and broadcast printing, the user or application 601 uses the group printer driver 6 as described above.
A print job must be issued to the printer to which 03 is assigned. Job control print service 622
Receives job data processed by the group printer driver 603 as a general-purpose print file via the job control port monitor 621. The job control print service 622 receives this job, and then Despo
The job (member job) is issued to another printer to which the PDL driver is assigned via the oler 701 to perform printing. At this time, the Despooler 701 is the print instruction unit 8-of the general-purpose print file described in FIG.
a is interpreted, the document data in the document data section 8-b is processed and converted into Windows GDI, and a print instruction is given to each printer driver to issue a print job. For example, when a 2-UP instruction is recorded in the print format designation section, the document data for two pages is reduced and laid out on one sheet. Further, in the case of distributed printing or broadcast printing, jobs are issued to a plurality of member printers described in the print instruction section 8-a according to those settings. In the case of the proxy printing, when the conditions for the proxy are satisfied, the member job is issued in advance in the automatic proxy and in the manual proxy according to the user's operation.

When issuing a job to each member printer, the Despooler 701 sends a D instruction for each member printer as a print instruction corresponding to the member printer driver.
I need to create an EVMODE.
The DE is generated by appropriately reflecting the contents described in the print instruction unit 8-a in the DEVMODE of each member printer.

The job control print service 622 on the client side receives the PDL data of each member job rendered by the PDL driver 602 via the job control port monitor 621 and informs the server side of the information about the received job. Job data is stored in its own proxy output queue (Proxy Out
It is temporarily stored in a “Port” (712). afterwards,
After receiving the transmission instruction from the job control server 630, the transmission is transmitted to the print device 650.

Next, the control of the group printer driver for the print job control system in the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a processing control flow when the group printer driver of the present invention is installed in the system. The processing of each step of the flowchart of FIG. 9 is a control in which the CPU (central processing unit) provided in the information processing apparatus described above is stored in a predetermined storage medium such as ROM, FD, hard disk (HD) or the like. It is realized by reading a program and executing processing based on the read program.
The same applies to the flowcharts of FIGS. 10, 11, and 15 described below.

First, in step S901, when the installation is started, the print job control system API
Use to get the member printer name used by the group printer driver.

In step S902, the information about the printable area information of each member printer is acquired based on the ID held by the member printer driver. still,
The printable area in the present embodiment refers to a printable range up to which a print range can be designated on one recording medium in a predetermined printer.

Here, the member printer driver ID will be described in detail. As the member printer driver ID in this embodiment, for example, the name (text data) registered in the icon corresponding to the printer driver or the printer driver is used. The identification information such as the serial number uniquely assigned to each printer, the identification information uniquely assigned to the registered printer driver management table, etc. are assumed, but the information can identify each member printer driver. Applicable. The same thing is assumed in FIGS. 10, 11, and 15 described later.

In addition, the size of a predetermined recording medium such as paper (for example, in the case of A4 paper size, length × width = 297 × 210 (m
m)), the information indicating the range in which printing (image formation) is performed and the margin value can be calculated more. Therefore, the information about the printable area acquired in step S902 is the information indicating the margin value. Both itself or information indicating the range in which an image can be formed on a recording medium of a predetermined size can be applied.

Then, in step S903, the processing executed in step S902 is repeated for all the target member printers.

Then, in step S904, from the information of the printable area of each member printer dry acquired through the processing of steps S901 to S903,
The optimum printable area is determined for each attribute of a plurality of member printer drivers.

The optimum printable area determined in step S904 is held in a predetermined storage section as a default setting value of the driver, and then the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 is terminated.

FIG. 14 shows an example of how the user interface of the group printer driver is displayed. This Figure 1
The display of No. 4 is based on the screen information for displaying the user interface included in the print control program (including the group printer driver) of the present invention.
This is equivalent to what is displayed on the display unit via, and the display in this embodiment is also displayed by the same mechanism.

This step S904 in FIG.
The information of the optimum printable area determined in step S1 is reflected on the user interface in the margin of 1401 as a default value in the setting field. Further, as a further preferable alternative form, the selectable range of the margin of 1402 (1402
It is also assumed that the minimum printable area of 1.0 to 52.5 mm reflects information about the determined printable area, which prevents the user from setting an inappropriate margin value. Can be prevented. That is, the result of the conflict process is reflected in the minimum value.

As described above, according to the flowchart of FIG. 9, the printable area is determined when the print control program of the present invention is installed, and the printable area is held as the default setting. In response to the inquiry from, the value for designating a proper printable area can be correctly returned.

Further, the control of step S902 in FIG.
The member printer driver may be inquired via the Windows System, or the member printer may be inquired directly. Alternatively, the printable area of each member printer may be registered in advance in the print job control system, and the print job control system may be inquired when the group printer driver is installed.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a processing control flow at the time of UI display processing of the group printer driver according to the present invention. The processing of each step of the flowchart of FIG. 10 is a control in which a CPU (central processing unit) provided in the information processing apparatus described above is stored in a predetermined storage medium such as a ROM, an FD, or a hard disk (HD). It is realized by reading a program and executing processing based on the read program.

First, in step S1001, Wind
UI from application through owsSystem
When there is a display request, the print job control system API is used to obtain the ID of the member printer driver used by the group printer driver.

In step S1002, a process of comparing each member printer driver ID acquired at this time with the configuration of the member printer driver held in advance by the group printer driver is executed. In other words, an investigation process is performed to check the match between the IDs of the member printer drivers acquired last time and the IDs of the member printer drivers acquired this time.

If it is determined in step S1002 that the member printer dry configuration has not been changed, the user interface is displayed based on the optimum printable area value previously determined in step S1006. Control is performed.

On the other hand, as a result of the determination processing in step S1002, when it is determined that the configuration of the member printer driver (combination of a plurality of member printer driver IDs) has been changed from the previous one, the printable area is re-related. Information is investigated (S1003). Specifically, the process is similar to the process described in the flowchart of FIG. 9, and the process of acquiring the printable area information of each member printer driver based on the ID of the member printer driver is performed.

Then, it is determined whether or not the process of step S1003 has been performed for all the member printer drivers (S1004), and if it is determined that the process is completed,
The process proceeds to step S1005.

Then, in step S1005,
The optimum printable area is determined based on the information about the printable area of each member printer driver acquired by the processing of steps S1003 and S1004.
Then, the information on the optimum printable area determined in S1005 is held in a predetermined storage unit as a default setting value of the group printer driver, and then in step S100.
Control for displaying a user interface based on the optimum printable area determined in 1005 is executed by the print control program of the present invention (S100).
6).

As in the case of FIG. 9, the flowchart of FIG. 10 displays the user interface as shown in FIG. 14, and in this case, the information regarding the optimum printable area determined in step S1005 is 140
It is reflected in the user interface as the default value of the margin of 1. Also, another preferred form and 14
It is also assumed that the information about the printable area that has been determined is reflected in the minimum value of the selectable range of the blank space of 02, which prevents the user from setting an inappropriate margin setting value in advance. it can.

Further, according to the flowchart of FIG.
As the configuration of the member printer driver is changed, the control is performed so that the value of 1401 or 1402 in FIG. 14 is also changed and set, so that the user may always change the configuration of the member printer. Therefore, it is possible to always obtain information about the optimum printable area.

According to the processing of the flowchart of FIG. 10,
Since the optimum printable area is determined and stored as a setting value of the group printer driver in a predetermined storage unit, the optimum printable area can be correctly returned to a subsequent inquiry from the application.

Here, further, in step S904, or
The process of determining the optimum printable area in step S1005 will be described in detail. In step S904, or
In step S1005, based on the acquired information about the printable area of each member printer, the narrowest width in each of the top, bottom, left, and right is adopted as the print width, and the optimum printable area is determined. Further, this processing is determined as a printable area that differs for each paper size.

It is obvious that the margin value is determined by determining the size of the recording medium and the printable range for the size. That is, the optimum printable area in step S904 or step S1005 can of course be provided as a margin value.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, the processing has been described so as to adopt the narrowest print range for a predetermined paper size.

As another optimum method for determining the printable area, a configuration is adopted in which the widest area in each of the obtained printable areas of the member printers is adopted, and the average value is adopted. The present invention is also envisaged.

In the case of a configuration having a plurality of printable area determination methods, the selection method may not be uniquely determined but may be displayed on the user interface so that the user can select it. It is possible.

The second embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 11 shows the group printer driver U
It is a flow chart which shows a processing control flow when I is displayed. The processing of each step of the flowchart of FIG. 11 is performed by the CPU provided in the information processing apparatus described above.
(Central processing unit) is realized by reading a control program stored in a predetermined storage medium such as a ROM, an FD, a hard disk (HD), and executing a process based on the read program. And

First, in step S1101, Wind
UI from application through owsSystem
When there is a display request, the print job control system API is used to obtain the ID of each member printer driver that constitutes the group printer driver.

Then, in step S1102, the configuration of the member printer driver held in advance by the group printer driver is compared with the member printer driver ID acquired in step S1101.

If it is determined in step S1102 that there is no change, in step S1116, a user interface for making various settings of the group printer driver that reflects the previously determined optimum printable area is displayed. .

If it is determined that the configuration of the member printer driver has been changed as a result of the comparison determination in step S1102, it is unique to each member printer driver based on the ID of each member printer driver. The printable area information is acquired (S1103), and the process of step S1103 is repeated for all member printer drivers (S1104).

Then, step S1103 and step S
Based on the information about the printable area of each member printer driver obtained in 1104, and the optimum printable area determination method previously or previously instructed via the user interface as shown in FIG. The printable area is determined (S1105).

Then, the value of the printable area determined in step S1105 is set to the UI of the group printer driver.
Is controlled to be reflected and displayed on the screen (S
1106).

Further, in step S1107, it is determined whether or not the user has instructed to change the printable area determination method to a predetermined printable area determination method.

When it is recognized in step S1107 that the instruction to change is input, the printable area instructed to be changed and each member printer driver acquired in the processing of steps S1103 and S1104 The printable area is determined again based on the printable area information of (S1105).

In step S1106, step S11
Control is performed so that the value of the printable area determined again in 05 is reflected on the UI of the group printer driver and displayed.

If it is determined in step S1107 that there is no instruction to change the printable area determination method, the currently selected printable area determination method and the printable area determined in step S1105 are selected. The area is held as a set value of the group printer driver in a predetermined storage unit, and the process ends.

As described above, according to the flowchart of FIG. 11, it is possible to easily realize the determination of the printable area by the printable area determining method desired by the user.

FIG. 13 shows an example of UI display in this configuration. Users are 1301 to 1303
A desired printable area determination method can be selected via a pointing device such as a mouse. Also, 1
The value of the printable area determined in response to the change of the printable area determination method from 301 to 1303 is reflected and displayed as a default value in 1304.

(Third Embodiment) In the third embodiment, according to the correspondence table as shown in FIG. 12, the print job control system 700 allows the print job control system 700 to add value such as proxy printing, distributed printing and broadcast printing. A process of automatically selecting a processing method according to which of the two types of printing is performed will be described.

Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIG.

First, in steps S1501 to 1503, it is determined whether the currently set output method is broadcast printing, distributed printing, or color / monochrome distributed printing. In any of the steps, if the determination result is No, it is determined that the output method is proxy printing. Of course, when there are more output methods, FIG.
It is assumed that the determination process for various output methods and the printable area determination method corresponding to each output method can be applied to the flow of FIG.

When it is determined that the output method set to the group printer dry corresponds to any of the output methods of steps S1501 to 1503, the "minimum range" is used as a method for determining the optimum printable area. "Select" is adopted (S1505).

Here, the method of "minimum range selection" is the first
As described in the above embodiment, from the acquired information about the printable area of each member printer, the narrowest width is selected as the print width for each predetermined paper size, and the optimum width is selected. This corresponds to the control for setting the feasible area.

Also, from step S1501 to step S
If it is determined that none of the output methods of 1503 is applicable, that is, the currently set output method is “substitute printing”.
If it is determined that the printable area optimum for the proxy destination printer is the same as the printable area set for the representative member printer, the actual printable area for the proxy destination member printer driver is determined. It is set as a print target area (S1504).

Here, the representative member printer (representative member printer driver) refers to the one having the first priority among any of the plurality of member printers having the priorities set through the user interface. Let it be the representative member printer driver. The priority can be arbitrarily set by the user according to the instruction. At this time, the priority of the representative member printer driver is set in the printable area of the second, third, fourth, ... Nth member printer driver. The printable area is set as the optimum printable area. When the optimum printable area is changed,
If a warning such as "Are you sure you want to change the calculation method of the optimum stampable area?" Is displayed on the client display, it will be more user-friendly.

The control explained in the flow chart of FIG. 15 is performed in step S904 of FIG. 9 or step S1005 of FIG. 10 explained in the first embodiment.
The optimum printable area calculation method is automatically selected according to the currently set output method (broadcast, distributed, color / monochrome distributed printing, proxy printing, etc.). become.

According to the flow chart of FIG. 15, in the printing process targeting a plurality of member printer drivers, the user can select the optimum printable area determination method that differs depending on the output method such as distributed printing or proxy printing. Can be realized without any special operation.

The method of calculating the optimum printable area, which differs depending on the output method, is not limited to the method shown in FIG. "Range selection", "Distributed printing" to "Minimum range selection", "Color monochrome distributed printing" to "Minimum range selection", "Broadcast printing" to "Range average selection"
The present invention also contemplates appropriate changes.

As described above, it is possible to efficiently perform printing in the print area where normal printing is guaranteed in all the connected printers, without the user being forced to perform complicated work. . Further, by adopting the optimum printable area determination method for each operation setting of the print job control system, the optimum printable area can be automatically set according to the purpose of print job control.

By having a user interface capable of explicitly instructing the printable area, more flexible printable area setting can be performed even for users who are not satisfied with the automatically determined printable area. Can be provided. In this case, by displaying the printable area determined by the printable area determining means as the specified value, most users can be provided with an appropriate printable area setting without the trouble of selecting again. Furthermore, by not displaying or selecting the range that cannot be printed by any printing device,
It is possible to prevent the print result from being accidentally missing.

As described above, in a printing environment in which a plurality of printers (member printer drivers) are operated, it is possible to provide a mechanism for the user to easily perform print settings regarding the printable area.

Even when the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (copier, printer, facsimile device) Etc.)

Further, an object of the present invention is to store a storage medium in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is stored in a storage medium of a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or apparatus. It is also achieved by reading and executing the code.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code or the program code itself realizes the present invention. Will be configured.

As the storage medium for supplying the program code, as described above, the floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, M
O, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used.

Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) And the like perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. This also includes a case where a CPU or the like included in a function expansion board or a function expansion unit performs some or all of actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0134]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a mechanism that allows a user to efficiently and easily set an optimum printable area in a printing environment such as distributed printing or proxy printing for a plurality of printers.

Further, when printing such as distributed, broadcast, and proxy printing is performed using a plurality of printers, the settings that take into account the characteristics (printable area) peculiar to each printer can be collectively and efficiently performed. It is possible to provide a mechanism that can be done.

Further, since the optimum printable area can be provided to the user, the user checks the printable area of each printer and checks the printable area of each printer for each printer or each printer driver. , I no longer need to set the same print area.

Optimal printing is also possible when printing instructions for a plurality of connected printers are set with regard to the printing area such as margins by a single virtual printer driver that combines the printers. Since the area can be grasped in advance, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of printing defects in other printers.

Further, in the print processing for a plurality of printers, even if the combination of a plurality of printers is changed, it becomes possible to provide the user with an optimum printable area according to the change.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of a memory map of a RAM 202 shown in FIG.

4 is an example of a memory map of the FD 204 shown in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing a relationship with an FD 204 inserted into the FD drive 203 shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a print control module configuration of the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a print control module configuration of the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a general-purpose print file of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing control when the group printer driver of the present invention is installed in the system.

FIG. 10 is an example of a flowchart showing control during UI display processing of a group printer driver according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an example of a flowchart showing control during UI display processing of the group printer driver according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an example of a table for controlling the method for determining the printable area according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an example of a UI display of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an example of a UI display of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a table for determining a method for determining an optimum printable area according to the output method of the present invention.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hidekazu Shikaoka             Kyano, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Within the corporation F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 HH03 HJ08 HK07 HK11                       HL01 HN05 HN15                 5B021 AA01 AA21 BB01 BB04 BB08                       CC05 EE04

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. An acquisition step of acquiring printable area information of each of a plurality of printers, and an optimum printable area is determined from the printable area information of each of the plurality of printers acquired in the acquisition step. And a determining step. 2. The obtaining step is to obtain the printable area information by inquiring the plurality of member printer drivers by a group printer driver capable of controlling the plurality of member printer drivers, and the determining step is performed by the inquiry. The control method according to claim 1, wherein an optimum printable area is determined from the acquired printable area information of each of the plurality of member printer drivers. 3. When printing to a plurality of printers,
The control step of controlling to include a value based on the optimum printable area determined by the determining step in a user interface capable of designating a representative printable area. Control method. 4. The control method according to claim 3, wherein the value based on the optimum print area determined in the determining step is a predetermined value or a value indicating a predetermined range. 5. The group printer driver is capable of controlling a plurality of types of output methods, and the determining step is controlled so that a method of determining the optimum printable area is changed according to the types of the plurality of output methods. The control method according to claim 1, further comprising: 6. The plurality of member printer drivers compose the group printer driver,
The method further includes a determining step of determining whether or not the configurations of the plurality of member printer drivers have been changed, and when the determination result of the determining step is determination of the configurations of the plurality of member printer drivers, 6. The control method according to claim 2, wherein the determining step determines a new optimum printable area from the printable area information of each of the changed printers. 7. The obtaining step obtains the IDs of the plurality of member printer drivers, and when the combination of the obtained IDs has been changed, the determining step includes each of the changed printers. 7. The control method according to claim 2, wherein a new optimum printable area is determined from the printable area information of. 8. A selection step of selecting a printer different from the predetermined printer as a substitute printing destination in response to the substitute printing being performed from the predetermined printer operating the printing process to the other printer. Further, the printable area in the proxy printing destination printer selected in the selecting step is set as a print area set based on the optimum printable area determined in the determining step. The control method according to claim 1. 9. An acquisition unit for acquiring printable area information of each of a plurality of printers, and a determination for determining an optimum printable area from the printable area information of each of the plurality of printers acquired by the acquisition unit. And a control device. 10. The obtaining means is a means for inquiring the plurality of member printer drivers for printable area information by a group printer driver capable of controlling a plurality of member printer drivers, and the determining means is a group printer driver. 10. The control device according to claim 9, wherein the optimum printable area is determined from the printable area information of each of the plurality of member printer drivers acquired by the inquiry. 11. When printing to a plurality of printers, the user interface capable of designating a representative printable area further comprises control means for controlling to include a value based on the optimum printable area determined by the determining means. The control device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that. 12. The control device according to claim 11, wherein the value based on the optimum printable area determined by the determining means is a predetermined value or a value indicating a predetermined range. 13. The group printer driver is capable of controlling a plurality of types of output methods, and the determination unit is controlled so as to change the optimal method of determining the printable area according to the types of the plurality of output methods. The control device according to claim 9, wherein: 14. The plurality of member printer drivers compose the group printer driver, further comprising a determination unit for determining whether or not the configurations of the plurality of member printer drivers have been changed. When the determination result of the means determines that the configurations of the plurality of member printer drivers have been changed, the determining means determines a new optimum printable area from the printable area information of each of the changed printers. The control device according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the control device determines. 15. The acquiring unit acquires the IDs of the plurality of member printer drivers, and when the combination of the acquired IDs has been changed, the determining unit determines each of the plurality of changed printers. 15. The control device according to claim 9, wherein a new optimum printable area is determined from the printable area information of. 16. A selection unit for selecting a printer different from the predetermined printer as a substitute printing destination in response to the substitute printing being performed from the predetermined printer operating the print processing to the other printer. Further, the printable area of the proxy printing destination printer selected by the selecting means is set as a print area set based on the optimum printable area determined by the determining means. The control device according to claim 9. 17. A program executed by an information processing device for realizing control by a group printer driver constructed from a plurality of member printer drivers, which obtains printable area information of each of a plurality of printers. A program for executing an acquisition step and a determination step of determining an optimum printable area from the printable area information of each of the plurality of printers acquired in the acquisition step. 18. A storage medium storing a program for controlling by a group printer driver constructed from a plurality of member printer drivers, the obtaining step of obtaining printable area information of each of a plurality of printers, A storage medium storing a computer-readable program for executing a determining step of determining an optimum printable area from the printable area information of each of the plurality of printers acquired in the acquisition step.