JP2003099216A - Print setting method for printer driver, information processor, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print setting method for a printer driver which can make good use of preferable print setting information corresponding to individual document files for the printer driver even when a document file has its file name changed or is copied to another PC. SOLUTION: An application 100 reads the header 400 of the document file 300 (S1). The contents of a comment part 420 included in the header 400 is intepreted to discriminate whether the printer driver contained in the document file 300 matches a currently selected printer driver 200 (S2). When not, print setting information of the printer driver 200 is provided for a user in the form of default settings (S3), but when they match each other, on the other hand, the print setting information contained in the comment part 420 is set to the printer driver 200 (S4). According to the print setting information, the printer driver 200 generates print data (S5).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer driver print setting method, an information processing apparatus, a program and a storage medium for setting print setting information in a printer driver when generating print data from a document file.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer driver is provided with a function of storing print setting information set by a user and reflecting the saved print setting information at the next printing.
Here, as the print setting information, specifically, printing paper,
Setting information regarding a halftone processing method, a color correction processing method, a color balance adjustment value, and the like.

Further, a method has been proposed in which the file name of a document file and the stored print setting information are associated with each other to form a list, and preferable print setting information is provided for each document file.

[0004]

However, in the conventional print setting method of the printer driver, the stored print setting information is associated with the document file based on the file name of the document file. If the file name was changed, there was a problem that the association would become impossible.

Further, if the document file is copied to another PC, it cannot be utilized even if the preferable print setting information is stored in the PC.

Therefore, according to the present invention, even if the file name of the document file is changed or copied to another PC, the print setting of the printer driver can utilize the preferable print setting information corresponding to each document file in the printer driver. It is an object to provide a method, an information processing device, a program and a storage medium.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer driver print setting method according to the present invention sets print setting information in the printer driver when generating print data from a document file by the printer driver. In the printer driver print setting method, the step of determining whether or not the currently selected printer driver and the printer driver in which the print setting information is stored in the document file match, and the selected printer When the driver and the printer driver in which the print setting information is stored in the document file match, the print setting information stored in the document file is reflected in the selected printer driver. Is characterized by.

Further, when the selected printer driver and the printer driver in which the print setting information is stored in the document file do not match, in the reflecting step, the print setting is performed in the selected printer driver. It is characterized in that the default setting information is reflected as the information.

Further, in the determining step, the determination is performed based on the printer driver model information, version and other printer driver information stored in the document file.

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus that generates print data from a document file by a printer driver in which print setting information is set. In the information processing apparatus, the currently selected printer driver and the document file have print setting information. If the discriminating means for discriminating whether the stored printer driver and the printer driver in which the print setting information is stored in the document file are coincident with each other, the document is stored. And a reflection unit that reflects the print setting information stored in the file in the selected printer driver.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a printer driver print setting method, an information processing apparatus, a program, and a storage medium according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The printer driver print setting method according to the present embodiment is applied to a personal computer (PC) and a printer system in which a plurality of printers are connected to a network.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a printer system according to the embodiment. This printer system comprises a PC 1 and three printers 3, 4, 5 connected to a network 2. Note that the number of PCs and printers connected to the network may be arbitrary, and other devices such as a scanner may be connected to the network.

The PC 1 is a well-known CPU 11 and ROM 1
2, RAM 13, CRT controller (CRTC) 1
4, network controller (NTC) 16, keyboard controller (KB) 17, disk controller (DKC) 19, printer controller (PRTC) 21
Etc. are connected to the bus 22. CRTC14
A CRT 15 is connected to. For KBC17,
The keyboard 18 is connected. A hard disk 20 is connected to the DKC 19.

The ROM 12 also stores an application for processing a document file, a printer driver, and the like. The hard disk 20 stores the document file processed by the application.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flow of data between an application, a document file and a printer driver when executing print processing. When the user activates the application 100 to perform print processing, the user opens the document file 300 and causes the printer driver 200 to generate print data according to the print setting information. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of a document file. Document file 30
0 is usually composed of a header 400, actual data 500 and a footer 600.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the print processing procedure. As described above, this processing program
It is included in the application 100 stored in M12 and is executed by the CPU 11. When the user instructs the application 100 to execute the print process, first, the header 400 included in the document file 300 is displayed.
Is read (step S1).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the header 400. In the header 400, various information 410 and comment section 420 regarding the document file 300 are usually described. For example, PBM (Portable Bitma) which is a file format of a graphic file.
p Utilities), the information included in the various information 410 includes a magic number, an image width and height (in pixel units), and the comment section 4
20 is represented by the text from the pound sign (#) to the end of the line.

The application 100 interprets the content of the comment section 420 included in the header 400 read from the document file 300, and selects the model information and version of the printer driver stored in the document file 300 and the application 100 at present. It is determined whether or not the printer driver 200 that has been registered matches (step S2).

If they do not match, the printer driver 2
The print setting information of 00 is provided to the user with the default setting (step S3). Here, examples of the print setting information include information about printing paper, a halftone processing method, a color correction processing method, a color balance adjustment value, and the like.

On the other hand, if they match in step S2,
The print setting information stored in the comment section 420 is set in the printer driver 200 (step S4). As a result, preferable print setting information can be automatically provided to the user. After that, the printer driver 200 generates print data in accordance with the set print setting information, and the printer performs print processing (step S5), and this processing ends.

FIG. 6 shows the print setting information of the printer driver 200 in the document file 3 by the application 100.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of data when the data is stored in 00. Figure 7
6 is a flowchart showing a print setting storage processing procedure.
This processing program is included in the application 100 stored in the ROM 12 and is executed by the CPU 11.

In advance, the user selects the printer driver 200.
Above, preferable print setting information is set for the document file 300. And the application 100
Reads the set print setting information, model information and version from the printer driver 200 (step S11), and overwrites and saves them in the comment section 420 of the document file 300 (step S12). This is so that even an application that does not support reading / reflection of print setting information can properly process the document file in which the print setting information is saved. After this,
This process ends.

As described above, by directly saving the print setting information of the printer driver in the document file, it is possible to automatically obtain the preferable print setting information only by opening the document file from the application.

Further, since the print setting information is directly stored in each document file, even if the document file is copied to a PC other than the host computer that has changed the file name or performed the saving operation, the preferable print setting information is stored. Obtainable.

Further, by saving the print setting information in the comment section of the document file, the print setting information can be read and stored.
Even an application that does not support reflection can process a document file that stores print setting information normally.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the configurations of these embodiments, and the functions shown in the claims or the configurations of the embodiments are not limited thereto. Any structure can be applied as long as it can achieve the function it has.

For example, in the present embodiment, when the print setting information is stored in the document file, the print setting information is automatically reflected. However, a dialog or the like is displayed and the default setting information of the printer driver is displayed. The user may be allowed to select which of the stored print setting information should be reflected.

Further, when the print setting information is saved in the document file, it is overwritten in the present embodiment, but a dialog or the like may be displayed to allow the user to select whether or not to save.

Further, when the print setting information is already saved, the saved print setting information may be presented and the user may be allowed to select whether or not to overwrite.

If the printer drivers do not match in step S2 and the PC has a printer driver registered in the document file, the printer registered in the document file is replaced with the printer driver currently selected. A driver may be adopted and the print setting information stored in the document file may be used.

Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), or may be applied to an apparatus composed of one device. .

It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus. In this case, the program code itself realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the program itself and the storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the program code shown in the flow charts of FIGS. 4 and 7 is a ROM which is a storage medium.
It is stored in. The storage medium for supplying the program code is not limited to ROM, but may be, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a DV.
D, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, etc. can be used.

Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that this also includes a case where the above) performs a part 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, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that a case where the CPU or the like included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is also included.

[0036]

According to the present invention, even when the file name of a document file is changed or copied to another PC, preferable print setting information corresponding to each document file can be utilized in the printer driver.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printer system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data flow between an application, a document file, and a printer driver when executing print processing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a structure of a document file.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a print processing procedure.

5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a header 400. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data flow when the application 100 saves print setting information of a printer driver 200 in a document file 300.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a print setting storage processing procedure.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 PC 3, 4, 5 printers 11 CPU 12 ROM 20 hard disk 100 applications 200 printer driver 300 document files 400 header 410 Various information 420 comment section

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A printer driver print setting method, wherein print setting information is set in the printer driver when print data is generated from the document file by the printer driver. A step of determining whether or not the printer driver in which the information is stored matches, and a case where the selected printer driver and the printer driver in which the print setting information is stored in the document file match, And a print setting information stored in a document file is reflected in the selected printer driver. 2. When the selected printer driver and the printer driver in which print setting information is stored in the document file do not match, in the reflecting step, the print setting is performed in the selected printer driver. 2. The printer driver print setting method according to claim 1, wherein the default setting information is reflected as the information. 3. The printer driver according to claim 1, wherein in the determining step, the determination is made based on information about the printer driver such as model information and version of the printer driver stored in the document file. Print setting method. 4. An information processing apparatus for generating print data from a document file by a printer driver having print setting information set therein, wherein the printer driver currently selected and the printer driver storing the print setting information in the document file. When the discriminating means for discriminating whether or not coincides with the printer driver in which the print setting information is stored in the document file and the selected printer driver are stored in the document file. An information processing apparatus, comprising: a reflection unit configured to reflect print setting information in the selected printer driver. 5. When the selected printer driver and the printer driver in which the print setting information is stored in the document file do not match, the reflection means is
The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein default setting information is reflected as print setting information in the selected printer driver. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the determination unit makes a determination based on information about the printer driver such as model information and version of the printer driver stored in the document file. . 7. A storage medium holding a program code for implementing the print setting method of a printer driver according to claim 1. Description: 8. A program having a program code for implementing the printer driver print setting method according to claim 1. Description: