JP2003241922A - Network printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network printer for printing in accordance with a given printing setting received via a Web browser of a computer, using a job ID for specifying the printing setting set once to allow the repetitive use thereof by issuing the job ID corresponding to the printing setting and notifying a user thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The network printer 1 uses transmitting/receiving means 11 to receive the printing setting set on the Web browser of the computer 2 and printing setting storing means 12 to store it. Job ID issuing means 13 issues the job ID corresponding to the printing setting and the transmitting/receiving means 11 transmits the job ID to the computer 2. The network printer 1 which receives printing data and the job ID transmitted from the computer 2 uses printing setting acquiring means 14 to acquire the printing setting corresponding to the job ID and printing means 15 to print the printing data in accordance with the printing setting. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network printer, and more particularly, to a network printer in a network system in which a computer and a network printer are connected via a network, which is set on web browsing software. Regarding print settings, the present invention relates to a network printer that can print without setting again.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has become common to connect a printer to a computer to perform printing.
(For example, Windows (registered trademark), Linux)
In the above, a printer driver of a de facto standard printer language (for example, PostScript, PCL, etc.) is included as standard. On the other hand, printers are becoming more multifunctional, such as collating (collecting each copy when printing multiple copies), stapling, and punching.
The printer manufacturer needs to develop a printer driver for each printer, and the user needs to prepare a printer driver for each printer to use such a multifunction printer.

With the progress and spread of the Internet, all kinds of data are distributed via the Internet, and control of remote devices is also possible via the Internet. An example of a printer that uses this Internet technology is a printer described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-316658.

In the printing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-316658, a printing apparatus connected to a computer via a network HT communicates with the computer.
By using the TP protocol, various network protocols and print settings are unified, and it is not necessary to install a printer driver in each computer. Further, by storing the print settings set using the HTTP protocol in association with the computer,
It is possible to give the user the same feeling of use as when each computer makes print settings with the printer driver installed in its own computer.

However, in this conventional example, the print settings transmitted from the computer are stored in correspondence with the computer. However, once the print settings are different, the previous print settings are processed. There is no description about whether or not. Normally, when the print settings are changed, the previous print settings are overwritten, and it is necessary to set the print settings again in order to print with the same print settings as before. For example, even when printing based on a certain print setting such as when printing the material of the regular meeting, the print setting must be reset each time.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a network printer that prints based on print settings received via a computer web browsing software corresponds to the print settings. By issuing the specified job ID and notifying the user, the print setting once set can be specified by the job ID so that it can be used repeatedly.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving print data and print settings from a computer connected via a network via web browsing software, and the receiving means. A print setting storage unit that stores the received print setting, a job ID issuing unit that issues a job ID corresponding to the print setting in a one-to-one correspondence, and the job ID issued by the job ID issuing unit to the computer. And a print setting acquisition unit that acquires the print setting from the print setting storage unit, and a print unit that prints the print data based on the print setting acquired by the print setting acquisition unit. It is characterized by.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the receiving means further receives the job ID together with the print data, and the print setting acquisition means receives the job ID received by the receiving means. Is obtained from the print setting storage means, and the printing means prints the print data based on the print setting corresponding to the job ID.

[0009]

1 is a block diagram for explaining a network printer of the present invention. The network printer 1 is connected to a single or a plurality of computers 2 via a network 3, and has a transmission / reception unit 11, a print setting storage unit 12, a job ID issuing unit 13, a print setting acquisition unit 14, and a printing unit 15. Transmission / reception means 1
Reference numeral 1 is for transmitting and receiving data to and from the computer 2, receives print data, print settings (described later), job ID (described later) from the computer 2, and also job ID issuing means 13 (described later). The job ID issued by is transmitted to the computer 2. The print setting storage unit 12 stores the print setting received by the transmitting / receiving unit 11. The job ID issuing unit 13 issues a job ID that corresponds to the print settings received by the transmitting / receiving unit 11 on a one-to-one basis.

The print setting acquisition unit 14 acquires print settings from the print setting storage unit 12 prior to printing. When a job ID is received together with print data, the print setting corresponding to the received job ID. To get
When the job ID is not received together with the print data, for example, the computer that transmitted the print data acquires the print settings used last time. The printing unit 15 prints based on the print settings acquired by the print setting acquisition unit 14. Here, the print settings include, for example, the number of sheets, magnification,
It means the settings that specify the functions that the network printer has such as double-sided / consolidated / divided, staple, collate, punch. The job ID is, for example, a character string including the date and time when the print setting is transmitted and the computer name that transmits the print setting, but is not limited to this.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation example when the network printer 1 shown in FIG. 1 and the computer 2 communicate with each other to execute printing. The computer transmits the print setting (for example, staple printing) set by the user to the network printer via the network (S1).
In the network printer 1, the transmission / reception unit 11 receives the print settings, the print settings are stored in the print setting storage unit 12, and the job ID issuing unit 13 sets the print settings to 1
Corresponding job IDs are issued one by one, and the sending / receiving means 11 sends the job IDs to the computer via the network (S2). The computer 2 receives and stores the job ID (S3).

When the computer 2 requests the network printer to print a document, the computer 2 sends the job ID and print data to the network printer 1 via the network (S4). The network printer 1 has a job ID
The print setting corresponding to the received job ID (for example, staple printing) is acquired by the print setting acquisition unit 14, and printing is performed based on the print setting acquired by the printing unit 15 (S5).

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, arbitrary print settings are made on the browsing software of a computer connected via a network, so that a user can use a printer by using a general-purpose printer driver.
For printer manufacturers, it is possible to reduce printer driver development costs. In addition, the network printer issues a job ID corresponding to the print settings and notifies the user of the job ID.
By specifying D, it is possible to perform printing without resetting the print settings once set.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram for explaining a network printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation example when the network printer shown in FIG. 1 and a computer communicate with each other to execute printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network printer, 2 ... Computer, 3 ... Network, 11 ... Transmission / reception means, 12 ... Print setting storage means, 13 ... Job ID issuing means, 14 ... Print setting acquisition means, 15 ... Printing means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A receiving unit that receives print data and print settings from a computer connected via a network via web browsing software, and a print setting storage unit that stores the print settings received by the receiving unit. A job ID issuing means for issuing a job ID corresponding to the print setting on a one-to-one basis; a transmitting means for transmitting the job ID issued by the job ID issuing means to the computer; and the print setting for the print setting. A network printer comprising: a print setting acquisition unit that is acquired from a storage unit; and a printing unit that prints the print data based on the print settings acquired by the print setting acquisition unit. 2. The network printer according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit further receives the job ID together with the print data, and the print setting acquisition unit,
The print setting corresponding to the job ID received by the receiving unit is acquired from the print setting storage unit, and the printing unit prints the print data based on the print setting corresponding to the job ID. A featured network printer.