JP2003296056A - Printing method and printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing method and a printing system for omitting the setting of a printing condition, simplifying printing works in forms to perform labor saving and business simplification, setting the printing condition in an unmanned manner, and automatically performing the print output. <P>SOLUTION: Client terminals 4 and 5 are connected to a print server 3, the print data is fed to the print server 3 from the client terminals 4 and 5, and prints are output based on the print data. Firstly, the print data is fed to the print server from the client terminals 4 and 5. The print server 3 generates new print data by applying the data on replacement conditions based on the print data. At the same time, the print server 3 feeds the new print data to a printing means, and outputs the prints based on the new print data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing system, and is particularly suitable for being applied to printing periodical materials such as forms.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when printing a form, it has been necessary to input a printing condition at a printing terminal every time a printing operation is performed. In particular, for items that change with time, such as date items, it is necessary to reset the printing conditions each time the printing operation is performed.

[0003]

Therefore, in recent years, for the purpose of simplifying the work and saving labor, it is necessary to further simplify the setting of printing conditions that must be executed each time these printing operations are performed. There was a longing for the development of a technology capable of doing so.

Further, normally, the output (print output) to a form or the like by the printing work is manually performed after the print setting is executed. However, again, in order to simplify the work and save labor, it has been desired to develop a technique capable of continuously performing print output unattended.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is that the setting of printing conditions can be omitted, the printing work on a form or the like can be simplified to save labor and work, and the printing conditions can be unattended. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing method and a printing system in which the above settings are made and automatic print output is possible.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the first invention of the present invention connects at least one terminal and a server having a printing means, and supplies print data from the terminal to the server. Then, when the print data is supplied from the terminal to the server when the print medium based on the print data is output from the printing unit, the server automatically applies the replacement condition data based on the print data and newly creates the new data. Of the new print data, the server supplies the generated new print data to the printing unit, and the printing unit outputs the print medium based on the generated new print data. Is.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, at least one terminal is connected to a server having an information processing section and auxiliary storage means, and the server has a printing means and is replaced with an auxiliary storage means. A database constructed from condition information data is stored, and when print data is supplied from the terminal to the server, the server automatically applies the replacement condition data based on the print data to generate new print data. In addition, the server supplies the generated new print data to the printing unit, and the printing unit is configured to be able to output a printed material based on the generated new print data. Is.

In the present invention, in order to apply the present invention in a wider range, the terminal and the server are typically connected via a network.

According to the printing method and the printing system of the present invention configured as described above, when print data is supplied from the terminal to the server, the server automatically sets the replacement condition data based on the print data. The new print data is applied to generate the new print data, the server supplies the generated new print data to the printing unit, and the printing unit outputs the print medium based on the new print data generated. By doing so, it becomes possible to automatically read the print settings for the print data and perform printing based on this print settings, and therefore the labor of manually setting the print conditions can be reduced.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In all the drawings of one embodiment below, the same or corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

First, a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows a printing system according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the printing system according to this embodiment, a network server 2, a print server 3 capable of scheduled printing, a client terminal 4 for inputting printing conditions are provided in a network 1.
5 and 6 are connected to each other so that data communication is possible.

The network 1 includes a network server 2 having an information processing unit such as a personal computer, a printing server 3 and a client terminal 4, for example.
It is for executing communication between the 5 and 6 devices. The network 1 is a local area network (LAN) used for communication in a relatively narrow range.
An intranet used for a rather wide range of communication, the Internet used for a wide range of data communication, or the like can be adopted.

The network server 2 is the network 1
It is a server for controlling the whole, and is for controlling information data transmitted / received between the respective terminals connected to the network 1.

Specifically, for example, when sending and receiving an electronic mail between the client terminals 4, 5 and 6 connected to the network 1, the electronic mail data sent from one client terminal to another client terminal. Is temporarily stored in a predetermined storage area (directory) of the network server 2 and then transmitted to a predetermined client terminal which is a transmission destination.

By accessing the network server 2 from each terminal connected to the network 1, the data stored in this network server 2 can be read (downloaded) by each terminal. There is.

The printing server 3 includes client terminals 4 to 4.
6 is a server for actually controlling the printing of a predetermined item on a sheet material such as a paper sheet based on the print file data transmitted from the printer 6, and is also installed for managing the printing system. It is a server. The printing server 3 is configured to be able to execute various types of processing in a printing method described later, and is also configured to store a predetermined database. Here, the configuration of the printing server 3 is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the printing server 3 in the service management system according to this embodiment has a bus 11 on which an input unit 12 including a keyboard and a mouse is provided.
And CPU (Central Processing Unit
t)) 13a and a main memory (MM) 13b such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13b, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which a program for mechanically controlling the printing server 3 is stored. ) 14 and GU
Display unit 15 as a display unit for executing I and auxiliary storage unit 16 such as a hard disk (Hard Disk, HD)
And an output unit 18 such as a printer or a recording medium recording / reproducing device.
Is configured.

Data communication between the input unit 12, the information processing unit 13 including the CPU 13a and the MM 13b, the ROM 14, the display unit 15, the auxiliary storage unit 16 and the output unit 18 is performed via the bus 11. Further, the bus 11 is connected to the network 1 via the interface (I / F) 17, whereby the printing server 3 is connected to the network 1. The network server 2 also has the same configuration as described above.

In addition, the auxiliary storage means 16 of the printing server 3
Has an operating system (OS) 16a for executing the installed program and operating the printing server 3 by an operator.

The auxiliary storage means 16 stores the OS1
Based on 6a, applications used for data transmission / reception processing, database construction processing and search processing, arithmetic processing such as the number of days and the amount of money, and data output processing are installed.

That is, the auxiliary storage means 16 of the printing server 3 prints a data transmission / reception application 16b, a calculation processing application 16c, and a database processing application 16d, such as a document creation application, a spreadsheet application software and a database construction support application. Various applications that can execute (print output application)
16e and the item replacement application 16f are installed.

The data transmission / reception application 16b is
It is an application for receiving data from the network server 2 and the client terminals 4 to 6 via the network 1 and transmitting data to these.

The arithmetic processing application 16c is an application for calculating the number of days for various information data transmitted from the network server 2 and the client terminals 4-6.

Further, the database processing application 16d searches various databases stored in the auxiliary storage means 16 for desired data, registers new data, and updates the database. It is an application to do.

Then, in the printing server 3, the OS 1
When the data transmission / reception application 16b, the arithmetic processing application 16c, the database processing application 16d, various print output applications 16e, and the item replacement application 16f are executed on the basis of 6a as the starting base, first, these applications are executed. The program is temporarily stored in the main memory 13b from the auxiliary storage means 16. After that, the CPU 13a performs predetermined processing according to the programs of the respective applications loaded in the main memory 13b.

That is, the OS 16a and various applications 16b installed in the auxiliary storage means 16
16 f are information processing units 1 according to these programs.
The process of 3 is performed. Note that as these processes, GUI processing by the OS 16a, transmission / reception processing of electronic mail or information data by the data transmission / reception application 16b, calculation processing of the amount of money or days by the calculation processing application 16c, or database search processing by the database processing application 16d, Update process,
A print output process for outputting print data by the print output application 16e to the output medium 18a such as a sheet material can be given.

The auxiliary storage means 16 has a screen information storage database 16g and a replacement information database 16 therein.
h is constructed and stored.

In the screen information storage database 16g among these databases, the type (Pg00) of the print output application 16e which is activated when printing is executed.
1, Pg002, ...), application setting data representing print condition settings, and output condition information combining these setting data are, for example, X
It is constructed by associating with the screen data described and formed in the ML type.

Further, in the replacement information database 16h, the replacement items for partially replacing the necessary portions of the print information data supplied from these client terminals 4 to 6 are the types of the print output application 16e. It is classified and built for each.

The database processing application 16d is executed by the information processing unit 13 so that the replacement information database 16h and the screen information storage database 16g can be respectively processed.

The printing server 3 according to this embodiment is constructed as described above.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the client terminals 4 to 6 are configured to be able to execute a document creation application, a spreadsheet application, a database construction application, or any other application used for executing printing. It is a terminal.

In this embodiment, a plurality of client terminals 4-6 are connected to the network 1. Further, these client terminals 4 to 6 are configured to be capable of mutual communication via the network 1 and, if necessary, the network server 2. Here, the configuration of these client terminals 4 to 6 is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the client terminals 4 to 6 in the printing system according to this embodiment are connected to the bus 21, from the input unit 22, the CPU 23a and the main memory 23b, as in the printing server 3 described above. The information processing unit 23, the ROM 24, the display unit 25, and the auxiliary storage unit 26 are included.

The information processing section 23 including these input section 22, CPU 23a and main memory 23b, ROM 2
4, mutual data communication between the display unit 25 and the auxiliary storage unit 26 is performed via the bus 21. Further, the bus 21 is connected to the network 1 via the interface (I / F) 27, whereby the client terminals 4 to 6 are connected to the network 1.

In the auxiliary storage means 26, an operating system (OS) 26a for executing the applications installed in the client terminals 4 to 6 and operating the terminals by the operator is installed.

Further, the OS 2 is stored in the auxiliary storage means 26.
On the basis of 6a, an application used for editing processing, data transmission / reception processing, database search processing, calculation processing such as the number of days and the amount of money, and data output processing before the printing according to this embodiment is installed. Has been done. That is, in the auxiliary storage means 26, the data transmission / reception application 26b, the arithmetic processing application 26c, the database processing application 26d, and the editing application 26e are installed.

The data transmission / reception application 26b is
Between the network server 2, the printing server 3, or the other client terminals 4 to 6, the network 1
It is an application for receiving and transmitting data via.

The arithmetic processing application 16c
Is an application for executing the number of days calculation process and the amount calculation process based on various information data transmitted from the network server 2, the printing server 3, or the client terminals 4 to 6.

The database processing application 26d is an application for executing a search for desired data and registering or updating new data.

Then, in the client terminals 4 to 6, the OS 26a is used as the starting base for data transmission / reception application 26b, arithmetic processing application 26c, and database processing application 26d.
Further, when the editing application 26e is executed, the processing by the information processing unit 23 according to these programs is performed.

These processes include GUI processing by the OS 26a, electronic mail and information data transmission / reception processing by the data transmission / reception application 26b, arithmetic processing such as the number of days by the arithmetic processing application 26c, database search processing and retrieval by the database processing application 26d. Examples thereof include output processing, edit processing by various editing applications 26e, print data output processing based on the display result of the screen, and the like.

The client terminals 4 to 6 according to this embodiment are configured as described above.

Next, a printing method using the printing system according to this embodiment configured as described above will be described. FIG. 4 shows an outline of the printing method according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, the processing date (the date item in the range format from the start to the end) is adopted as the printing condition item, and the client terminals 4 and 5
The process from when the editing program "Pg001" is used as an editing application for executing printing and when two types of condition settings are performed to when the printing of the schedule is executed will be described.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, in the printing method according to this embodiment, first, in the client terminal 4, with the editing program "Pg001" activated, the user inputs printing conditions ( Input (Pattern setting). On the other hand, in the client terminal 5,
The user inputs the print condition (pattern setting) from the input unit 22 while the editing program "Pg001" is activated.

Here, in the client terminal 4,
It is assumed that the user sets the period from October 30th to November 1st as printing conditions on November 1st. As a result, "2 days from the date when the user inputs the printing conditions"
"Period before day" is set as the printing condition.

On the other hand, in the client terminal 5, it is assumed that the user sets the period from October 30th to November 1st as the printing condition on November 2nd. As a result, “3 days from the day before the user entered the printing conditions,
"Period before day" is set as the printing condition.

These printing conditions are shown in FIG. 4 as "abc" (printing condition: 2 from the date of input).
It is displayed as "the period until the day before" and "def" (printing condition: the period from the day before the input date to the day before 3 days).

After that, the data of the print setting conditions input in the client terminal 4, that is, the application item data (editing program "Pg001") and the pattern setting data ("abc") in the print condition setting are transferred to the client. The data transmission / reception application 16b of the terminal 4 transmits the data to the printing server 3 via the network 1 and, if necessary, the network server 2.

After that, the printing server 3, which has received the application item data “Pg001” and the pattern setting data “abc” in the setting of the printing condition, causes the information processing unit 13 to perform the database processing application 16
d is activated. After that, the printing server 3 converts the application item data and the pattern setting data into file data of XML format, for example. Thereby, for example, XML type screen data (XML data 1) is generated.

Thereafter, the information processing section 13 associates these application item data, the pattern setting data, and the generated XML type screen data according to the program of the database processing application 16d and reconstructs them as one data.

Subsequently, the information processing section 13 stores the reconfigured application item data, pattern setting data and screen data in the screen information storage database 16g according to the program of the database processing application 16d. As a result, the screen information storage database 16g is updated.

On the other hand, similarly, the printing server 3 supplies the application item data “Pg001” and the pattern setting data “def” supplied from the client terminal 5 and received by the printing server 3, for example, to the screen data of XML type ( Convert it to XML data 2) and associate it with 1
Reconstructed as one data. After that, the printing server 3
The information processing unit 13 stores the XML type screen in the information storage database 16g. As a result, the screen information storage database 16g is updated.

The above process is the same when the print setting condition is input in another editing program "Pg002".

That is, in the client terminal, with the editing program "Pg002" activated, the user
When the period from October 30th to November 1st is set as the printing condition on November 1, these information data are first transmitted to the printing server 3. After that, in the printing server 3, for example, XML type data (XML data 3) is generated, correlated with each other, and stored in the screen information storage database 16g.

After that, the schedule is printed on another day. That is, for example, on November 5, the users execute printing at the client terminals 4 and 5, respectively. It should be noted that this printing can be automatically performed for each period set in advance in the client terminals 4 to 6 or based on the set date without the user performing the printing execution operation. is there.

At this time, the information processing section 23 of the client terminal 4 uses the editing application (editing program "Pg0
01 ") 26e is activated, and a print command signal is output in this editing program" Pg001 "without setting print conditions.

Then, the information processing section 23 of the client terminal 4 activates the data transmission / reception application 16b and transmits the print data to the printing server 3 via the network 1 and, if necessary, the network server 2. .

The print server 3 that has received this print data
The information processing unit 13 of, based on the received print data,
The same application as the editing application 26e from which the print data is edited is used as the print output application 1
Start as 6e ("Pg001"). At the same time, the information processing unit 13 causes the database processing application 16
d is started, and predetermined application item data “Pg001”, pattern setting data “abc”, and screen data (XML data 1) are retrieved from the screen information storage database 16g.

After that, the information processing section 13 activates the item replacement application 16f and extracts the replacement information data from the replacement information database 16h.

Then, the corresponding portion in the received print data, in this embodiment, the portion of the processing date is replaced with the data matched at the time of printing. That is, in this embodiment, specifically, the pattern setting data “abc” is replaced with the setting condition based on November 5th, and the printing condition is “November 3rd to November 5th”. "Period". On the other hand, the same process is performed on the print data transmitted from the client terminal 5, the pattern setting data “def” is replaced with the setting condition based on November 5, and the printing condition is “11”. The period from 2nd to 4th of November ".

Thereafter, the print output application 16e (program "Pg001") is executed by the information processing unit 13 in the print server 3, and the client terminals 4 and 5 are executed.
The print data received from is changed to the processing date when the print condition setting is replaced.

Then, in the printing server 3, a screen is virtually generated in the changed print condition setting, and printing is executed based on this virtually generated virtual screen.

As a result, from the client terminal 4, 11
For the data printed based on the print data sent on the 5th of the month, the condition setting is "November 3 to November 5".
The print data that has been output is output, and the data that is to be printed from the client terminal 5 based on the print data that was sent on November 5 has the condition setting as “November 2 to November 4”. The printed print data is output.

As described above, the information data replaced with the necessary data is output without the user having to set the printing conditions each time printing is performed. This eliminates the need to input the condition setting each time printing is executed. Further, since the same application as the editing application 26e installed in the client terminals 4 to 6 is installed as the print output application 16e in the printing server 3, the editing application that executes printing can be specified without changing Since it is possible to print the information in which the item is replaced, it is possible to reduce the burden on the user. As a result, the labor saving of the user in the printing work can be achieved.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the processing date in the print data is replaced has been described, but other items can be replaced, and the date is not necessarily limited. Specifically, for example, in the print data according to the above-described embodiment, if there is a portion that is "(shares)", this is changed to "shares".
Or replace "15: 00-5: 30" set in relation to the printing time (5:30) as "time from printing time to 4 hours 30 minutes" It is also possible to replace it with "10:30 to 3:00" in the printing performed.

With respect to the page to be printed, when "4 to 10 pages" is printed in the setting of printing conditions, it is possible to replace it with "7 pages from the current page". is there. At this time, for example, 1
It is also possible to describe a one-day schedule on a page and automatically print out a schedule for one week from the current day when this schedule is output every Monday.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been specifically described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. is there.

Further, in the above-mentioned one embodiment, the XML type file data is used as the data used in the process for executing the printing process, but it is also possible to use the file data of other formats. Yes, specifically, it is possible to use HTML type file data or SGML type file data, for example.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the network server 2 and the printing server 3 are each constituted by different devices, but it is also possible to integrate these into a network printing server. is there. Similarly, the network server 2 may be provided with the function of the printing server 3, or the printing server 3 may be provided with the function of the network server 2.

[0072]

As described above, according to the present invention, at least one terminal and a server having a printing unit are connected to each other, print data is supplied from the terminal to the server, and based on the print data from the printing unit. When the print data is supplied from the terminal to the server when the printed matter is output, the server automatically applies the replacement condition data based on the print data to generate new print data and By supplying the generated new print data to the printing unit, and the printing unit outputs the printed material based on the generated new print data, the setting of the printing condition can be omitted, and It is possible to save labor and simplify work by simplifying printing work on forms and the like.
It is possible to continuously print out unattended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing server of the printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a client terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a process schematic diagram for explaining a printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Network 2 ... Network server 3 ... Printing servers 4,5,6 ... Client terminals 11,21 ... Bus 12,22 ... Input section 13,23 ... Information Processing unit 13a, 23a ... CPU 13b, 23b ... Main memory 14, 24 ... ROM 15, 25 ... Display unit 16, 26 ... Auxiliary storage means 16a, 26a ... Operating system 16b , 26b ... Data transmission / reception applications 16c, 26c ... Arithmetic processing applications 16d, 26d ... Database processing application 16e ... Print output application 16f ... Item replacement application 16g ... Screen information storage database 16h. ..Replacement information database 17, 27 ... Interface 18 ... Output section 18a ··· output medium 26e ··· editing application

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. When at least one terminal is connected to a server having a printing means, print data is supplied from the terminal to the server, and a print body based on the print data is output from the printing means. When the print data is supplied from the terminal to the server, the server automatically applies the replacement condition data based on the print data to generate new print data, and the server, A printing method, wherein the generated new print data is supplied to the printing means, and the printing means outputs a printed body based on the generated new print data. 2. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal and the server are connected via a network. 3. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal transmits the print data to the server at a predetermined time and causes the printing unit to perform printing. 4. An at least one terminal is connected to a server having an information processing unit and an auxiliary storage means, the server has a printing means, and the auxiliary storage means stores information on replacement conditions. When the built database is stored and the print data is supplied from the terminal to the server, the server automatically applies the replacement condition data based on the print data to generate new print data. At the same time as the generation, the server supplies the generated new print data to the printing unit, and the printing unit is configured to be able to output a printed material based on the generated new print data. A printing system characterized by the above. 5. The printing system according to claim 4, wherein the terminal and the server are connected via a network. 6. The terminal is configured to be capable of automatically transmitting the print data to the server at a predetermined time and being capable of executing printing by the printing means. Item 4. The printing system according to Item 4.