JP2004110171A - Information processor, function expansion program and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor connected to a server device through a network and performing rapid and efficient printing processing in printing image data stored in the server device by a printer, and to provide a function expansion program and a control method. <P>SOLUTION: A plug-in 107 of a client terminal 105 acquires partial image data out of a plurality of image data used as printing objects from the server device 101. A printer driver 112 of the client terminal 105 prepares a printing job on the acquired partial image data. The printer driver transfers the prepared printing job to the printer 113 to carry out printing. The plug-in 107 acquires a printing processing status for every printing job and allows a WWW browser 106 to make a dialogue display. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information processing device, a function extension program, and a control method.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an information processing apparatus that is connected to a server device via a network and prints image data stored in the server device by a printing device.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional information processing apparatus, when printing a plurality of image data, one print job is created for the plurality of image data. Therefore, printing cannot be started until all of the plurality of image data are obtained from the server device, and it takes time to start printing. Further, since one print job is created for a plurality of image data, it has not been possible to cancel printing for each image data or control the printing process.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the related art. It is an object of the present invention to connect a server device and a client device via a network and to store image data stored in the server device in the client device. The present invention provides an information processing apparatus, a function expansion program, and a control method capable of realizing a quick and efficient printing process when printing is performed by a printing apparatus connected to a printer.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
An information processing device capable of communicating with a server device via a network and capable of controlling a printing device,
Display means for displaying a plurality of images transferred from the server device;
A print instruction acquisition unit that acquires a print instruction, with instruction contents to collectively print a plurality of images displayed on the display unit,
A print job generating unit that generates a print job for each part of the plurality of images in response to the print instruction;
It is characterized by having.
[0006]
To achieve the above object, the program according to the present invention comprises:
A function expansion program capable of communicating with software for controlling the printing apparatus,
Receiving a print instruction for a plurality of image data;
A step of acquiring some image data among a plurality of image data included in the received print instruction;
Transferring the image data to the software to cause a print job to be created for the obtained image data;
It is characterized by being executed by a computer.
[0007]
Obtaining information on the processing status of a print job created by the software from the software;
Displaying a processing state of the print job based on the acquired information;
Is further executed by a computer.
[0008]
Receiving a print processing stop instruction for a print job selected from the print jobs whose processing status is displayed;
In response to the accepted stop instruction, instructing the software to stop print processing of the selected print job;
Is further executed by a computer.
[0009]
In order to achieve the above object, a storage medium according to the present invention stores the above-mentioned function extension program.
[0010]
Further, another information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes:
Storage means for storing the function expansion program;
A communication unit that executes a function expansion program stored in the storage unit and communicates with a second information processing device or a printing device connected via a network.
[0011]
The communication means receives a file described in a language capable of displaying the image data stored in the second information processing device,
Display means for displaying the image data by a browser based on the file received by the communication means.
[0012]
To achieve the above object, the method according to the present invention comprises:
A control method for controlling a printing device, comprising:
Receiving a print instruction for a plurality of image data;
A step of acquiring some image data among a plurality of image data included in the received print instruction;
Transferring the image data to software for controlling the printing apparatus so that a print job is created for the acquired image data.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be illustratively described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the components described in this embodiment are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only thereto.
[0014]
(1st Embodiment)
<Configuration of information processing system>
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing system to which an information processing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention can be applied.
[0015]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 105 denotes a client terminal according to the present embodiment. The client terminal 105 is connected to the server device 101 via a network 104 such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN).
[0016]
The server device 101 is a group of information processing devices included in a site that provides a service for storing the image data 103 transferred via the network 104. The server device 101 includes a WWW server 102 for receiving various requests via the network 104 and transmitting various responses thereto.
[0017]
Reference numeral 106 denotes a WWW (World Wide Web) browser that operates on the client terminal 105. The WWW browser 106 acquires various HTML files described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) from the WWW server 102 on the server device 101 via the network 104. The WWW browser 106 has a function of interpreting the description of the HTML file and displaying it on a display device (CRT 201 described later) of the client device 105.
[0018]
Reference numeral 107 denotes a function expansion unit (plug-in) for expanding the function of the WWW browser 106. The WWW browser 106 interprets the HTML file and, when there is a description specifying the execution of the plug-in 107, executes the plug-in 107 corresponding to the description.
[0019]
Reference numeral 112 denotes software for controlling the printer 105 connected to the client terminal 105. The plug-in 107 requests the printer driver 112 to print image data, document data, and the like via an operating system (OS). The printer driver 112 interprets a print command received from the plug-in 107 via the OS, and performs print processing for the printer 113.
[0020]
Reference numeral 103 denotes image data stored in a storage unit in the server device 101 or an external storage device connected to the server device 101. When the WWW browser 106 requests the WWW server 102 to display the image data 103, the WWW server 102 prepares an HTML file for displaying the image data 103 on the WWW browser 106, and sends the HTML file to the WWW browser 106 via the network 104. Send it back. The WWW browser 106 can analyze the transmitted HTML file and display the image data 103 on the CRT 201.
[0021]
The printer 113 is a printing device connected to the client terminal 105, and is specifically an ink jet printer, a laser beam printer, or the like.
[0022]
<Configuration of client terminal>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic internal configuration of the client terminal 105 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
[0023]
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a CRT (display device) whose display screen displays, for example, a document being edited, graphics, images, and other editing information, icons, messages, menus, and other user interface information. Reference numeral 202 denotes a VRAM on which an image to be displayed on the display screen of the CRT 201 is drawn. The image data generated in the VRAM 202 is transferred to the CRT 201 in accordance with a predetermined rule, whereby an image is displayed on the CRT 201. Reference numeral 203 denotes a bit move unit (BMU), for example, data transfer between memories (for example, the VRAM 202 and another memory) and data transfer between the memory and each I / O device (for example, the network interface 211). Control. A keyboard 204 has various keys for inputting a document or the like. A pointing device 205 is used, for example, to indicate an icon, a menu, or another object displayed on the display screen of the CRT 201. Reference numeral 206 denotes a CPU, which controls each device connected to the CPU device based on a control program stored in the ROM 207, a hard disk, or a floppy disk. A ROM 207 stores various control programs and data.
[0024]
Reference numeral 208 denotes a RAM, which has a work area for the CPU 206, a data save area for error processing, a control program load area, and the like. A hard disk drive (HDD) 209 controls access to the hard disk. A floppy disk drive (FDD) 210 controls access to a floppy disk. A network interface 211 can communicate with another information processing device, a printer, or the like via the network 104. A CPU bus 212 includes an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus. The control program can be provided to the CPU 206 from the ROM 207, a hard disk, a floppy disk, or from another information processing device or the like via the network 213.
[0025]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print condition designation screen displayed on the CRT 201 of the client terminal 105.
[0026]
Reference numeral 301 denotes a screen displayed by the WWW browser 106, which is a browsing screen in which thumbnails 306 of the image data 103 stored in the server device 101 are listed and displayed.
[0027]
Reference numeral 302 denotes a list box for specifying a printer for performing printing, 303 denotes a list box for specifying a paper size to be printed, 304 denotes a list box for specifying the type of paper, and 305 denotes a paper box to be printed. This is a list box for designating the layout of. In the list box 302, information on the printer connected to the client terminal 105 obtained by the plug-in 107 from the OS is listed. Further, in the list boxes 303 to 305, the attribute information of the printer acquired by the plug-in 107 from the printer driver 112 is listed.
[0028]
Reference numeral 307 denotes an edit box for designating the number of prints of each of the image data 306 to be printed. Reference numeral 308 denotes a print button for instructing execution of printing, and the user can make the print button 308 instruct by operating the pointing device 205.
[0029]
<Print processing>
Next, a print processing procedure according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a print processing procedure in the client 105.
[0030]
In FIG. 4, first, in step S401, the WWW browser 106 on the client terminal 105 is activated by a user operation.
[0031]
In step S402, the WWW browser 106 connects to the WWW server 102 of the server device 101 via the network 104 and acquires various HTML files. Then, an album display screen 900 as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed based on the obtained HTML file.
[0032]
In step S403, it is checked whether the user performs an operation of pressing the print setting button 902 on the album display screen 900 in FIG. 8 and inputs an instruction to start setting print conditions.
[0033]
In step S404, the WWW browser 106 activates the plug-in 107 based on the HTML file obtained from the WWW server.
[0034]
In step S405, the plug-in 107 acquires information (for example, a model name, a printer name, and the like) of the printer 113 connected to the client terminal 105 via the OS. Further, the plug-in 107 obtains attribute information of the printer 113 (for example, a paper size and a paper type of the paper set in the printer 113, a layout printable by the printer 113, etc.) from the printer driver 112 of the printer 113. .
[0035]
In step S406, the WWW browser displays the print condition designation screen 300 of FIG. 3 based on the HTML file acquired from the server device 103. Note that, in the print condition designation screen 301 in FIG. 3, the check box 904 in the album display screen 900 in FIG. 8 is checked, that is, the thumbnail 306 of the image data 103 designated as a print target by the user is displayed.
[0036]
The information acquired by the plug-in 107 in step S405 is listed in the list boxes 302 to 305 in FIG.
[0037]
In step S407, the user operates the pointing device 205 to press the print button 308 on the print condition designation screen 301 in FIG. 3 and check whether an instruction to execute printing has been input.
[0038]
If a print execution instruction is input in step S407, the plug-in 107 acquires the print condition setting information input in the list boxes 302 to 305 of the print condition specification screen 301 in step S408.
[0039]
First, in step S409, the plug-in 107 acquires, from the server apparatus 101, the image data 103 whose thumbnail was displayed on the print condition setting screen 301, that is, one of the image data 103 to be printed.
[0040]
Next, in step S410, the plug-in 107 of the client terminal 105 activates the printer driver 112 corresponding to the printer 113 specified by the print condition setting information.
[0041]
In step S411, the plug-in 107 transfers the print condition setting information (paper size, paper type, layout, etc.) acquired in step S408 and the image data 103 acquired in step S409 to the printer driver 112.
[0042]
The printer driver 112 starts creating a print job from the transferred print condition setting information and the image data 103. Then, the printer driver 112 transmits the created print job to the corresponding printer 113 to execute printing.
[0043]
In step S412, the plug-in 107 determines whether all of the image data 103 to be printed has been acquired. If it is determined in step S412 that all the image data 103 to be printed have been obtained, the operation ends.
[0044]
In step S409, it has been described that one of the image data 103 to be printed is acquired. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and if a part of the image data to be printed is acquired, two There may be three or the like. In addition, the operator of the client terminal 105 or the server apparatus 101 determines the time required to acquire image data in step S409, the time required to create a print job by the printer driver 112, and the time required to print a print job from the printer driver 112 to the printer 113. The number of image data acquired in step S409 may be appropriately set in consideration of the time required for transmission and the like.
[0045]
In the present embodiment, when executing print processing of a plurality of image data, instead of creating one print job for a plurality of image data, one print job is created for a part of the plurality of image data. The printing device is caused to execute printing. As a result, the processing time is shorter when a print job is created for some image data among a plurality of image data than when one print job is created for a plurality of image data. can do.
[0046]
Further, a print job is created in order from the acquired image data. This eliminates the need to wait until all image data has been received, so that image data acquisition processing and print job creation processing can be performed simultaneously, and printing processing can be performed efficiently. Further, the time until the start of printing can be reduced.
[0047]
(2nd Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, a print status is displayed to the user during execution of printing, and printing can be stopped (canceled) for each print job. Other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus, the same configurations and processes are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.
[0048]
FIG. 6 shows an example of a print status dialog displayed on the CRT 201 of the client terminal 105 when the plug-in 107 of the client terminal 105 activates the printer driver 112 (step S410 in FIG. 4).
[0049]
Reference numeral 601 in FIG. 6 denotes a dialog indicating the processing status (print status) of the print job of the image data 103. FIG. 6 shows an example in which four print jobs exist. In the print status dialog of FIG. 6, 602 is the name of the target image data 103, 603 is the data size of the print job, and 604 is the status indicating the processing status of the print job.
[0050]
Here, when the user operates the pointing device 205 of the client terminal 105 and selects an arbitrary print job 602 and a cancel button 605 in the print status dialog 601, the OS of the client terminal 105 An instruction is issued to the printer driver 112 via 107 to stop the printing process of the print job. Then, the printer driver 112 displays a cancellation processing message 701 as shown in FIG. 7 on the CRT 201 of the client terminal 105 via the OS. When the user operates the pointing device 205 of the client terminal 105 and selects the OK button 702, the stop of the printing process is completed.
[0051]
In FIG. 6, when the user operates the pointing device 205 of the client terminal 105 and presses the OK button 606, the print status dialog 601 closes.
[0052]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process executed by the plug-in 107 according to the present embodiment. The plug-in 107 of this embodiment performs the processing from step S401 to step S410 in FIG. 4 in the same manner as in the first embodiment described above, and the following processing will be described below.
[0053]
That is, in step S511, the plug-in 107 displays the print status dialog 601 of FIG. 6 on the CRT 201 of the client terminal 105 based on information acquired from the OS and the printer driver 112.
[0054]
In step S512, the plug-in 107 determines whether a print interruption instruction for any print job has been input in accordance with the print status dialog 600.
[0055]
If it is determined in step S512 that the interruption instruction has been input, in step S513, the plug-in 107 instructs the printer driver 112 to perform various types of processing (eg, print job creation processing, print job (Transmission processing to the printer 112).
[0056]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the states of a plurality of print jobs that have occurred are displayed, and processing can be interrupted for each print job. As a result, the user can check the processing state of each print job, and can give an instruction to cancel, so that a user-friendly service can be provided.
[0057]
(Other embodiments)
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, the present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices, or may be applied to an apparatus including a single device.
[0058]
According to the present invention, a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is directly or remotely supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes the supplied program code. Including the case that is also achieved by In that case, the form need not be a program as long as it has the function of the program.
[0059]
Therefore, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. That is, the claims of the present invention include the computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.
[0060]
In this case, any form of the program, such as an object code, a program executed by an interpreter, and script data supplied to the OS, is applicable as long as the program has the function of the program.
[0061]
As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card , ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-R) and the like.
[0062]
Other methods of supplying the program include connecting to a homepage on the Internet using a browser of a client computer, and downloading the computer program itself of the present invention or a file containing a compressed automatic installation function from the homepage to a recording medium such as a hard disk. Can also be supplied. Further, the present invention can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. In other words, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for implementing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the claims of the present invention.
[0063]
In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and downloaded to a user who satisfies predetermined conditions from a homepage via the Internet to download key information for decryption. It is also possible to execute the encrypted program by using the key information and install the program on a computer to realize the program.
[0064]
The functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented when the computer executes the read program, and an OS or the like running on the computer executes a part of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program. Alternatively, all the operations are performed, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can be realized by the processing.
[0065]
Further, after the program read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the A CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing also realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.
[0066]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, image data acquired from a server device can be efficiently output to a printing device.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system including a client terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a client terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a print setting screen of the client terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing in a client terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing plug-in processing of the client terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a print status dialog of the client terminal according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a cancellation processing message dialog of the client terminal according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image browsing screen on a client terminal according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
201 CRT
202 Video RAM (VRAM)
203 BMU
204 keyboard 205 pointing device 206 CPU
207 ROM
208 Working RAM
209 Hard disk 210 Floppy disk 211 Network interface 212 I / O bus 213 Network line

Claims (8)

An information processing device capable of communicating with a server device via a network and capable of controlling a printing device,
Display means for displaying a plurality of images transferred from the server device;
A print instruction acquisition unit that acquires a print instruction, with instruction contents to collectively print a plurality of images displayed on the display unit,
A print job generating unit that generates a print job for each part of the plurality of images in response to the print instruction;
An information processing apparatus comprising: A function expansion program capable of communicating with software for controlling the printing apparatus,
Receiving a print instruction for a plurality of image data;
A step of acquiring some image data among a plurality of image data included in the received print instruction;
Transferring the image data to the software to cause a print job to be created for the obtained image data;
A function expansion program characterized by causing a computer to execute the following. Obtaining information on the processing status of a print job created by the software from the software;
Displaying a processing state of the print job based on the acquired information;
The function expansion program according to claim 2, further causing a computer to execute the following. Receiving a print processing stop instruction for a print job selected from the print jobs whose processing status is displayed;
In response to the accepted stop instruction, instructing the software to stop print processing of the selected print job;
The function expansion program according to claim 3, further causing a computer to execute the following. A computer-readable storage medium storing the function expansion program according to claim 2. Storage means for storing the function expansion program according to claim 2;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a communication unit that executes a function expansion program stored in the storage unit and communicates with a second information processing apparatus or a printing apparatus connected via a network. The communication means receives a file described in a language capable of displaying the image data stored in the second information processing device,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: display means for displaying the image data by a browser based on the file received by the communication means. A control method for controlling a printing device, comprising:
Receiving a print instruction for a plurality of image data;
A step of acquiring some image data among a plurality of image data included in the received print instruction;
Transferring the image data to software for controlling the printing apparatus so that a print job is created for the acquired image data.

Images