JP2004038754A - Printing system, method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system, method and program capable of easily preparing a document carrying the latest advertisement and printing the document. <P>SOLUTION: This system comprises the Internet 101, an advertisement distribution server 102 connected to the Internet 101 and having a function of a server computer, and an output service center 103 consisting of a client computer 104 and a printer 105. When a customer prints a document on paper with advertisements, printer drivers mounted on the client computers 104 and 106 generate print data of a document printing area on the basis of document data, acquire advertisement data connected to the Internet 101, generate print data of an advertisement printing area on the basis of the advertisement data and transmit the print data to the printer to make the printer 105 print the print data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing system and method for printing a document by adding an advertisement when printing a document, and a program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a document is printed on a print medium, an advertisement is posted on the print medium. For example, a method of printing an advertisement on a paper with an advertisement printed thereon or a method of adding an advertisement when printing an electronic mail ( For example, JP-A-11-309417) and the like.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described conventional example, there is a problem that the latest advertisement cannot be placed when the advertisement is printed on an advertisement-attached paper.
[0004]
In addition, if the required amount of advertisement is not known in advance, an excess or deficiency of the print medium inventory may occur.If a document is printed from a client computer via a printer driver, the area occupied by the advertisement of the print medium may be taken into consideration. There are problems such as the need to create documents. Furthermore, the method of adding an advertisement when printing electronic mail is limited to a specific field such as mail.
[0005]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a print system and method, and a program that can easily create and print a document in which the latest advertisement has been posted. .
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a print system according to claim 1 has print control means for generating print data for controlling a printer from at least one of document data and image data, and prints the print data. In a print system that transmits to the printer to perform printing, the print control unit includes a sheet selection unit that selects a sheet having an advertisement area for printing an advertisement, and an advertisement acquisition unit that acquires advertisement data indicating the advertisement. Generating means for generating the print data so as to print the acquired advertisement data in the advertisement area.
[0007]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the print system according to the first aspect, the print control unit includes a print purpose setting unit that sets a print purpose of the document.
[0008]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the print system according to the second aspect, the advertisement acquisition unit selects the advertisement data according to the set printing purpose.
[0009]
A print system according to a fourth aspect is the print system according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the advertisement acquisition unit acquires the advertisement data from a server computer connected via the Internet. Features.
[0010]
The print system according to claim 5, wherein in the print system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the advertisement acquisition unit changes the size of the advertisement area according to the amount of the acquired advertisement data. It is characterized by the following.
[0011]
In order to achieve the above object, according to a printing method of the present invention, an advertisement is printed using a printer driver program that generates print data for controlling a printer from at least one of document data and image data. A printing step of allowing the user to select whether or not to print an advertisement on a sheet having an advertisement area on which the advertisement is printed by the printer driver program, and an advertisement for obtaining advertisement data indicating the advertisement by the printer driver program. An obtaining step, and a generating step of generating the print data to print the advertisement data in the advertisement area based on at least one of the document data and the image data and the advertisement data by the printer driver program. Features.
[0012]
A printing method according to a seventh aspect is the printing method according to the sixth aspect, wherein the printer driver program includes a printing purpose setting step of setting a printing purpose.
[0013]
In a printing method according to an eighth aspect, in the printing method according to the seventh aspect, the advertisement acquisition step selects the advertisement data according to the set printing purpose.
[0014]
In a printing method according to a ninth aspect, in the printing method according to any one of the sixth to eighth aspects, the advertisement acquiring step acquires the advertisement data from a server computer connected via the Internet. Features.
[0015]
In a printing method according to a tenth aspect, in the printing method according to any one of the sixth to ninth aspects, the advertisement obtaining step changes the size of the advertisement area according to the amount of the obtained advertisement data. It is characterized by the following.
[0016]
A print method according to claim 11, further comprising a print charge calculating step in which the printer driver program calculates a print charge for the document, wherein the print charge calculation step is performed in the print method according to any one of claims 6 to 10. The step is characterized in that the printing fee is discounted when the advertisement is added and printed.
[0017]
A printing method according to claim 12, wherein in the printing method according to any one of claims 6 to 11, the printer driver program calculates an advertisement fee according to the amount of the acquired advertisement data. It is characterized by comprising a calculating step.
[0018]
According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the printing method according to any one of the sixth to twelfth aspects, the printer driver program is configured to execute at least one of the document data and the image data generated by an application program. A program for generating the print data described in a language interpretable by the printer.
[0019]
In order to achieve the above object, a program according to claim 14 is a program that causes a computer to execute a process of generating print data for controlling a printer from at least one of document data and image data, and prints an advertisement. A step of allowing a user to select whether or not to print an advertisement on a sheet having an advertisement area to be printed, an advertisement obtaining step of obtaining advertisement data indicating the advertisement, and based on at least one of document data and image data and the advertisement data. And a generating step of generating the print data so as to print the advertisement data on the advertisement area.
[0020]
A program according to claim 15 is the program according to claim 14, wherein the program comprises a printer driver.
[0021]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0022]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a print system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0023]
In FIG. 1, the print system includes the Internet 101, an advertisement distribution server 102 connected to the Internet 101 and having the function of a server computer, and an output service center 103 including a client computer 104 and a printer 105. ing. The client computer 106 is a notebook personal computer, a desktop personal computer, or the like owned by the customer.
[0024]
The client computers 104 and 106 and the advertisement distribution server 102 include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, And a drive on which a storage medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk can be mounted. The client computer 104 and the advertisement distribution server 102 are connected via the Internet 101 and can perform data communication with each other.
[0025]
In this print system, a client creates a business document for printing on paper (advertisement paper) having an advertisement area for printing an advertisement with the client computer 106, and brings the electronic data to the output service center 103. To obtain a print output with advertisement.
[0026]
First, the customer installs the same printer driver installed on the client computer 104 of the output service center 103 on the client computer 106. The printer driver is software that generates print data for controlling the printer 105 based on at least one of document data and image data created by a user using application software. Subsequently, application software for creating a document is started, and the printer driver is set to the same as the output service center 103. Here, in order to set the sheet as the sheet with advertisement, the printer driver causes the client computer 106 to display a print setting dialog of FIG. 2 described later, and selects the sheet with advertisement.
[0027]
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a print setting dialog displayed on the client computer 106 in FIG. This print setting dialog is an example, and shows the minimum print attribute settings.
[0028]
In FIG. 2, a print setting dialog 201 is a dialog displayed automatically or on a monitor or the like by a user's instruction every time a printer driver installed in the client computer 106 (or the client computer 104) is started. A print setting dialog 201 includes a paper size setting 202 for selecting a paper size, a paper direction setting 203 for selecting a paper direction, a cancel button 204 for canceling the print setting, and enabling the print setting. And an OK button 205 for performing the operation.
[0029]
In the print setting dialog 201, for example, when the customer prints a document in A4 size with an advertisement, “A4 (with advertisement)” is selected by the paper size setting 202 as illustrated. When the paper direction is set to portrait, “portrait” is selected by the paper direction setting 203. At this stage, the customer can create a document on the advertisement-attached paper having a physical size of A4 size.
[0030]
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an advertisement-attached sheet printed by the printing system of FIG.
[0031]
In FIG. 3, an advertisement sheet 301 is an advertisement sheet having an A4 size. The advertisement sheet 301 includes a document print area 302 for printing a document and an advertisement print area 303 for printing an advertisement. In the advertisement print area 303, a customer cannot create a document. When the customer selects this sheet and creates a document using the application software, the size of the actual print area becomes the area 302. After the customer creates a document on the application software, the customer stores the electronic data of the document in a predetermined storage medium and brings it to the output service center 103. Examples of the predetermined storage medium include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, MO, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, Examples include a magnetic tape and a nonvolatile memory card.
[0032]
Next, at the output service center 103, when the customer opens the electronic data document on the client computer 104 and gives a print instruction, a print dialog of FIG. 4 described later is displayed.
[0033]
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a print dialog displayed by the print system of FIG.
[0034]
In FIG. 4, a print dialog 401 designates a print purpose setting 402 for selecting a print purpose, a copy number setting 403 for setting the number of copies, a cancel button 404 for canceling printing, and an instruction to start printing. And an OK button 405 for the user.
[0035]
In the print dialog 401, for example, if the document to be printed is for business, “business” is selected by the print purpose setting 402 as shown in the figure. The options of the print purpose setting 402 include “business”, “general”, and the like, but are not limited thereto. When 30 copies of this document are to be printed, “30” is input by the copy number setting 403. This completes the print settings, and presses the OK button 405 to execute printing. When the OK button 405 is pressed, the printer driver installed in the client computer 104 starts printing. Since the printing paper of this document is set to “A4 (with advertisement)”, the printer driver prints a predetermined advertisement in the advertisement print area 303 simultaneously with normal printing.
[0036]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a printing process executed by the printer driver in the printing system of FIG.
[0037]
In FIG. 5, first, the printer driver generates print data to be printed on the document print area 302 based on the first page of document data (step S1). Next, the printer driver acquires one piece of advertisement data in the “business” field set by the print purpose setting 402 from the advertisement distribution server 102 connected to the Internet 101 (step S2).
[0038]
By the way, in the procedure for the advertisement distribution server 102 to select an advertisement, first, the advertisement distribution server 102 collects advertisements to be posted from each company for each field, and arranges them sequentially. Next, if there is an advertisement distribution request from the client computer 104, the advertisement is distributed sequentially from the designated fields. Then, the process returns to the beginning when there are no more advertisements to be distributed. In the present embodiment, the advertisement is selected in the above-described procedure, but is not limited to this.
[0039]
In step S3, the printer driver generates print data to be printed in the advertisement print area 303 of the first page based on the advertisement data acquired from the advertisement distribution server 102. Subsequently, the print data of the first page of document data and advertisement data is transmitted to the printer 105 (step S5), and the printer 105 prints the advertisement simultaneously with the document. These steps are repeated until the document of the second and subsequent pages ends (step S5).
[0040]
Here, the printing fee of the document may be calculated by the print server after printing of all pages is completed. At that time, the printing fee for the paper with the advertisement is discounted from the printing fee for the normal paper. Further, the advertisement fee may be calculated according to the amount of the advertisement acquired from the advertisement distribution server 102 or the like. This makes it possible to easily collect the advertisement publication fee from the advertiser.
[0041]
According to the above embodiment, when a customer prints a document on an advertisement sheet, the printer driver of the client computer 104 generates print data of the document print area from the document data by the printer driver (step S1) and connects to the Internet 101. The acquired advertisement data is obtained (step S2), print data of an advertisement print area is generated based on the advertisement data (step S3), and the print data is transmitted to the printer 105 and printed, so that the latest advertisement is posted. Documents can be easily created and printed.
[0042]
In addition, since "printing purpose setting" is performed at the time of printing, an advertisement that more closely matches the customer's request can be posted. In addition, by installing an advertisement posting function in a general-purpose printer driver, it can be used for various printers, and advertisement posting can be performed for a wide range of printing purposes. Further, when the customer does not have a large amount of print data, the printing fee can be reduced by selecting printing on the advertisement-attached paper.
[0043]
In the above embodiment, the A4 size advertisement-attached paper 301 is used, but it goes without saying that another size may be used. Further, the printer 105 may be an LBP or inkjet type, or may be a multifunction device having a plurality of functions.
[0044]
In the print system, the client computer 106 may be connected to the Internet 101, acquire an advertisement from the advertisement distribution server 102, and print out the advertisement on the printer 105, similarly to the client computer 104.
[0045]
According to the present invention, a software program (a program corresponding to the flowchart in FIG. 5) including a printer driver for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment is supplied to computers including the client computers 104 and 106. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by reading and executing a program.
[0046]
In this case, the program is supplied by being downloaded directly from a storage medium storing the program or from another computer or database (not shown) connected to the Internet 101, a commercial network, a local area network, or the like.
[0047]
Further, the program only needs to be able to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments by a computer, and the form includes object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to an OS, and the like. May be.
[0048]
Still further, the object of the present invention is also achieved by supplying a storage medium storing a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a computer, and the computer reading and executing the program stored in the storage medium. It goes without saying that this is achieved.
[0049]
In the above embodiment, the program is stored in the ROM (not shown). However, the present invention is not limited to this. Examples of the storage medium that supplies the program include a RAM, an NV-RAM, a hard disk, and a floppy (registered trademark). ) Disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, other ROM, etc. Any program that can store the above-mentioned program may be used.
[0050]
【The invention's effect】
As described in detail above, according to the system according to the first aspect, the method according to the sixth aspect, and the program according to the fourteenth aspect, the paper having the advertisement area for printing the advertisement is selected, and the advertisement indicating the advertisement is selected. Since data is acquired and print data is generated to print the advertisement data in the advertisement area, a document in which the latest advertisement is posted can be easily created.
[0051]
According to the system according to the second aspect and the method according to the seventh aspect, since the purpose of printing the document is set, an advertisement that more closely matches the customer's request can be posted.
[0052]
According to the system of the third aspect and the method of the eighth aspect, the advertisement data is selected according to the purpose of printing the document, so that the effects of the system of the second aspect and the method of the seventh aspect are reliably achieved. be able to.
[0053]
According to the system according to the fourth aspect and the method according to the ninth aspect, the advertisement data is obtained from the server computer connected via the Internet, so that the latest advertisement can be placed on the document to be printed.
[0054]
According to the system of the fifth aspect and the method of the tenth aspect, the size of the advertisement area is changed according to the amount of the acquired advertisement data, so that the advertisement can be appropriately placed on the document to be printed. .
[0055]
According to the method of the eleventh aspect, the printer driver program calculates the printing fee of the document, and discounts the printing fee when printing with the advertisement added thereto, so that the printing fee can be easily calculated.
[0056]
According to the twelfth aspect, since the printer driver program calculates the advertisement fee according to the amount of the advertisement data, the advertisement publication fee can be easily collected from the advertiser.
[0057]
According to the program described in claim 15, since the program is composed of a printer driver, it can be used for various printers, and an advertisement can be inserted in a wide range of printing applications.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a print system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a print setting dialog displayed by the print system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an advertisement-attached sheet printed by the print system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a print dialog displayed by the print system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process executed by a printer driver in the printing system of FIG. 1;
[Explanation of symbols]
101 Internet 102 Advertisement distribution server 103 Output service center 104, 106 Client computer 105 Printer 201 Print setting dialog 202 Paper size setting 203 Paper orientation setting 204, 404 Cancel button 205, 405 OK button 301 Physical paper 302 Document print area 303 Advertisement print area 401 print dialog 402 print purpose setting 403 number of copies setting

Claims (15)

A print system that has print control means for generating print data for controlling a printer from at least one of document data and image data, and transmits the print data to the printer to perform printing.
The print control unit, a sheet selection unit that selects a sheet having an advertisement area for printing an advertisement,
Advertisement acquisition means for acquiring advertisement data indicating the advertisement,
A print unit that generates the print data so that the obtained advertisement data is printed on the advertisement area. 2. The print system according to claim 1, wherein the print control unit includes a print purpose setting unit that sets a print purpose of the document. 3. The print system according to claim 2, wherein the advertisement acquisition unit selects the advertisement data according to the set printing purpose. The print system according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement acquiring unit acquires the advertisement data from a server computer connected via the Internet. The print system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the advertisement acquisition unit changes the size of the advertisement area according to the amount of the acquired advertisement data. A printing method for printing an advertisement using a printer driver program that generates print data for controlling a printer from at least one of document data and image data,
A selection step of allowing a user to select whether or not to print an advertisement on a sheet having an advertisement area on which the advertisement is to be printed by the printer driver program;
An advertisement acquisition step of acquiring advertisement data indicating the advertisement by the printer driver program,
A print step of generating the print data to print the advertisement data in the advertisement area based on at least one of the document data and the image data by the printer driver program and the advertisement data. Method. 7. The printing method according to claim 6, wherein the printer driver program includes a printing purpose setting step of setting a printing purpose. The printing method according to claim 7, wherein the advertisement acquiring step selects the advertisement data according to the set printing purpose. 9. The printing method according to claim 6, wherein the advertisement acquisition step acquires the advertisement data from a server computer connected via the Internet. The printing method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the advertisement acquiring step changes a size of the advertisement area according to an amount of the acquired advertisement data. 7. The printer driver program according to claim 6, further comprising a print charge calculating step of calculating a print charge of the document, wherein the print charge calculating step discounts the print charge when the advertisement is added and printed. The printing method according to any one of items 10 to 10. The printing method according to any one of claims 6 to 11, wherein the printer driver program includes an advertisement fee calculating step of calculating an advertisement fee according to the amount of the acquired advertisement data. The printer driver program is a program that generates the print data described in a language interpretable by the printer from at least one of the document data and the image data generated by an application program. The printing method according to claim 6. A program causing a computer to execute a process of generating print data for controlling a printer from at least one of document data and image data,
A selection step for allowing the user to select whether or not to print an advertisement on a sheet having an advertisement area for printing an advertisement,
An advertisement acquisition step of acquiring advertisement data indicating the advertisement,
A program causing the computer to execute processing including at least one of document data and image data and a generation step of generating the print data so as to print the advertisement data in the advertisement area based on the advertisement data. . 15. The program according to claim 14, wherein the program comprises a printer driver.

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