JP2004127119A - Method of setting resource - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily customize the kinds of loadable resources. <P>SOLUTION: Devices to be loaded with resources are specified (S401, S402). The kinds of resources selected based on the kinds of resources that can be loaded into the devices specified are set as the objects to be loaded (S403). The resources of the set kinds are loaded into the specified devices (S404). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technology that enables customization of a type of a resource to be loaded to a device having a print function.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as a downloader for loading resources such as a font (Font), a form (Form), and a color profile (Color Profile) of a printer, there are, for example, NetSpot Resource Downloader of Canon Inc. and Resource Manager of Hewlett-Packard Co., USA. Resources loadable to the device could be handled by all users at the same level. On the other hand, when providing function restrictions, the administrator and the general use are created in advance to limit the general use functions.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above conventional example, as described below, there is a problem that it is difficult to uniformly distinguish an administrator and a general person according to the operation of resources.
(1) If all users can load resources used by all printer users irrespective of the state of the personal computer (PC), such as fonts and forms, the state of the printer becomes unexpected and normal Printing may not be possible. For this reason, it is desired that only the administrator uses it.
(2) On the other hand, in the case of a resource for matching with a PC, such as a color profile, necessary resources differ for each user, and resources already stored in the printer do not affect individual users. The use of general users is desired.
(3) The above (1) and (2) do not apply depending on the range of users who share the printer. For example, when a general user wants to use a font and a color profile, or when a general user does not load a color profile. Various.
[0004]
As described above, in the above conventional example, there is a problem that it is difficult to operate the resource downloader according to the user environment.
[0005]
The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and has as its object to make it possible to easily customize the types of loadable resources.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a resource setting method capable of customizing a type of a resource to be loaded on a device having a print function, comprising: a specifying step of specifying a device to load a resource; A setting step of setting a resource selected based on a type of loadable resource as a load target, and a loading step of loading the set resource to the specified device.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0008]
FIG. 1 is a diagram that best illustrates the features of a system in which a downloader according to the present embodiment is used. The configuration of the system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
[0009]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a network such as a local area network (LAN), which connects a personal computer (PC), a printer, and the like to each other. Reference numeral 102 denotes a user PC, which is used when the user instructs a load process for loading a printer resource described below in detail into the printer. A printer 103 capable of monochrome printing has a storage device such as a hard disk and a flash memory (flash memory) in the printer, and a font (Font) and a form (Form) used at the time of printing are loaded from the user PC 102. You.
[0010]
Reference numeral 104 denotes a printer capable of performing color printing, which includes a storage device such as a hard disk and a flash memory in the printer, and includes not only fonts (Fonts) and forms used in printing but also printing. A color profile (Color Profile) corresponding to a color matching table used for the color matching of (1) is also loaded from the user PC 102.
[0011]
In the example shown in FIG. 1, one user PC 102 can load resources to a printer connected to the network 101. However, a plurality of PCs may connect and load resources from each PC. Alternatively, the data may be loaded to a printer connected to another network via a router or a gateway.
[0012]
Next, a resource downloader (Resource Downloader) for loading resources such as fonts, forms, and color profiles from the user PC 102 to the printer 103 (104) according to a user's instruction will be described.
[0013]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating one screen of the resource downloader according to the present embodiment. This screen is a user interface screen for loading fonts and forms (macro: Macro). By clicking a download button 201, the fonts and forms in the printer are indicated on a screen 202 shown in FIG. Add and delete fonts and forms to get the settings as they are. That is, if a font or form not specified on the screen 202 is present in the printer, the font or form is deleted. If the specified font or form is present in the printer, the font or form is left as it is. If they are not in the printer, load them. Note that a form is executed as a macro command of a print command, and in the present embodiment, a macro and a form are treated as synonyms.
[0014]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating one screen of the resource downloader according to the present embodiment. This screen is a user interface screen for loading a color profile. When an additional download (Additional Download) button 301 is clicked, the color profile data indicated on the screen 302 shown in FIG. 3 is added. That is, if the color profile data exists in the printer irrespective of this instruction, it is left as it is, and if the color profile data specified here does not exist in the printer, it is loaded. The color profile is displayed on the screen as “Profile”, “PROFILE”, etc., but the meaning is the same.
[0015]
The difference between the processes in FIGS. 2 and 3 is due to the difference in the use of printer resources. That is, in a network environment in which print data is sent from various PCs to various printers, if there are differences in fonts and forms among the printers, even if the data is extra data, garbled characters, data errors, poor printing, etc. May cause On the other hand, color profile data is data necessary for color matching, and color matching cannot be performed unless color profile data of a display (monitor) used in an arbitrary PC is present in the printer. There is no problem. That is, the color profile data can be viewed from any user as long as the color profile data for the user is included in the printer used by the user. It must be the same for all printers used by at least all users sharing the same document.
[0016]
Here, the process of the resource downloader for loading the above-described printer resources into the printer will be described.
[0017]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the resource downloader. In step S401, a device group is created. The device group groups a plurality of printers and multifunction peripherals (multifunction peripherals (MFPs)), and is a unit for loading resources. A plurality of device groups can be created for each type of printer resource. That is, devices that load the same font and form at once are collected into one group, and similarly, if there is a device that loads another font and form, they are grouped separately. The same applies to color profile data.
[0018]
Next, in step S402, the device is registered in a device group. This downloader program assumes that each device is connected by TCP / IP, and registration of a device is usually performed by designating an IP address. Depending on the form of the program, it is possible to select from a device list, but the gist of the invention does not change by the operation. Further, the gist of the invention does not change depending on the connection form, for example, whether the connection is made to a network or a non-network connection such as USB or RS-232C.
[0019]
Note that, depending on the type of the resource, the printers that can be registered may be limited. That is, when a color profile is selected as a resource type, a monochrome printer cannot be registered.
[0020]
Next, in step S403, resource data to be loaded for this device group is selected. The types of resources that can be selected are the resources specified when the device group was created, and may be further limited depending on the type of the printer. For example, some printers can load color profile data, but some printers can load only RGB color space data, and some printers can load both RGB and CMYK.
[0021]
When the selection of the resource data is completed, which printer is loaded with which resource is set. Then, in step S404, the load processing of the resource is performed according to the instruction of the user, and the load / delete processing is performed. At this time, if the type of the selected resource is a font or a form, a screen for performing addition / deletion as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed, and both addition and deletion of the resource are performed by clicking the button 201. If the type of the resource is a color profile, a screen for performing only the addition as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed, and only the addition of the resource is performed by clicking the button 301.
[0022]
FIG. 5 is a screen of the device group creation processing (S401) shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 501 denotes a screen displaying the types of resources according to a resource type table described later. Reference numeral 502 denotes an area for inputting a device group name. Then, after selecting the type of the resource from the display screen 501 and inputting the name of the group in the area 502, the user clicks "OK" in 503 to create a device group.
[0023]
FIG. 6 shows a screen of the device group registration process (S402) shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes a list display screen of devices on the same subnet, from which one or more target printers are selected. The printers listed here can load the resources specified when the device group was created. In the present embodiment, registration can also be performed by inputting the IP address 602.
[0024]
Next, a device information file created by collecting device information from each device when the system configuration changes, such as when the system starts up or when a new device is connected, will be described.
[0025]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the device information file according to the present embodiment. The device information file shown in FIG. 7 manages correspondence between device names, loadable resources, and PDL (page description language) used by the printer.
[0026]
In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, “Font, Form, and Color Profile” are registered as resources that can be loaded into the printer with the number of managed devices “3” and the device name “LBP2260”, and “LIPS” is registered as the PDL. The resource that can be loaded into the printer with the device name “LBP2360PS” is “color profile”, the PDL is “PS”, and the resource that can be loaded into the printer with the device name “LBP1000” is “color profile”. “Font and form” and “PCL” are registered for PDL.
[0027]
Here, a method of creating a resource type table for storing the types of resources to be displayed on the display screen 501 shown in FIG. 5 during the device group creation processing (S401) based on the above-described device information file will be described.
[0028]
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for determining the type of resource to be displayed when a device group is created. First, in step S801, the device information file described above is opened. Then, in step S802, the counter variable N is initialized to 0. Next, in step S803, a device name is extracted from the device information file based on the counter variable N, and is substituted for a device name parameter Dev. Then, in step S804, the type of the resource that can be loaded into the device whose device name is the parameter Dev is substituted for the parameter X. Here, the parameter X can be substituted even if there are plural types of resources.
[0029]
Next, in step S805, it is determined whether the type of the resource assigned to the parameter X is in the resource type table. If the type of the resource is not in the resource type table, the process proceeds to step S806, and the type of the resource assigned to the parameter X is added to the resource type table. If a plurality of resource types are substituted for the parameter X, the processes of steps S805 and S806 are repeated for each resource type.
[0030]
Here, when the process of adding to the resource type table in step S806 is completed, and when the type of the resource is in the resource type table in step S805, the process proceeds to step S807, and the counter variable N is incremented. Then, in step S808, it is determined whether or not the counter variable N is equal to the number of models. If the processing has not been performed for the number of models, the process returns to step S803, and the above processing is repeated. If all models have been processed, the process advances to step S809 to display the types of resources stored in the resource type table. This display is the display screen 501 shown in FIG. That is, the types of resources that are not displayed here are not loaded.
[0031]
Next, the type of color profile that can be loaded for each PDL is identified, and the PDL of the printer is identified, so that when the user loads the color profile with the resource downloader, the type of the color profile that can be loaded to the printer is determined by the user interface The operation displayed on the screen will be described.
[0032]
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a resource management table and a mapping table. (A) shown in FIG. 9 is a PDL resource management table, which is a table for classifying a color profile according to a use and associating the color profile with a PDL. As shown, the types of color profiles that can be loaded are determined for each PDL. That is, in LIPS, a source color profile can be used. In the PS, a source color profile and a destination (Destination) color profile can be used. A color profile cannot be loaded for a printer whose PDL is PCL and an image (Image).
[0033]
FIG. 9B is a mapping table of a color profile and a color space. As shown, the color space of the color profile that can be a source is expressed in RGB. Similarly, the color profiles of the destination and the simulation are CMYK. In general, RGB is used as a source such as a CRT monitor or a liquid crystal monitor, and CMYK such as ink or toner is used for a destination or simulation in a printing machine such as a printer.
[0034]
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a screen of the resource downloader when a color profile is loaded on the LIPS printer. As shown in FIG. 10, a color profile 1001 is set as a resource type. A LIPS printer is registered on the screen 1002. In this case, as is apparent from FIG. 9, only a color profile having a color space of RGB can be loaded as a source color profile. Then, only the source (SRC) is registered as a loadable color profile type (Class) in the screen 1003.
[0035]
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a screen of the resource downloader when a color profile is loaded to the PS printer. As shown in FIG. 11, a color profile is set in 1101 as a resource type. A PS printer is registered on the screen 1102. In this case, as is clear from FIG. 9, the color profile is a color profile, a color profile in the RGB color space can be loaded as a source color profile, and a color profile in the color space is CMYK as a destination color profile. Can be loaded. In the screen 1103, two types of source (SRC) and destination (DST) are registered as types of loadable color profiles (Class).
[0036]
FIG. 12 is a screen showing details of the color profile file. As shown in FIG. 12, a file name (File Name), a profile name (Profile Name), a color space (Color Space), a copyright notation (Copyright), and a manufacturer (Vender) are displayed in the color profile. . These pieces of information, except for the file name, are held in the color profile data, and are used to determine the type of the color profile data.
[0037]
FIG. 13 is a flowchart for determining whether a color profile can be loaded. First, in step S1301, information on the load destination device is extracted from the device information file. In step S1302, the PDL and the type of the color profile of the PDL are extracted from the PDL resource management table shown in FIG. Next, in step S1303, based on the type of the color profile extracted in step S1302, information (one or more) of the color space is obtained from the color profile and color space mapping table shown in FIG. 9B. Take it out and store it in variable L1. Then, in step S1304, a file to be loaded is selected. One or more files may be selected here.
[0038]
Next, in step S1305, color space information is extracted from one of the selected load target files, and is substituted into a variable C. Then, in step S1306, it is determined whether the information of the color space stored in the variable C is included in the variable L1. Here, if it is included in the variable L1, the process proceeds to step S1307, it is determined that loading is possible, and it is added to the load list. If it is not included in the variable L1, the process advances to step S1308 to determine whether or not processing has been performed on all files. Here, if the processing has not been completed, the process returns to step S1305, and the above-described processing is repeated. If the processing has been completed, the processing ends.
[0039]
Next, when loading a font into a printer, if the font is a normal character code, the font data is loaded as it is. If the font is a special character code such as an external character, a character code conversion table is added and the font data is added. Will be described.
[0040]
FIG. 14 is a screen showing details of the font file. As shown in FIG. 14, as the font file, it is possible to display a file name, set a typeface name by a user, and set Graphic Set (mapping of character codes and character patterns; ASCII, Latin1, JISX0208, etc.). It is.
[0041]
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a conversion table between printer character codes and internal codes of font data. (A) shown in FIG. 15 is a standard mapping, and this mapping is held inside the printer. (B) is an external character mapping, and this mapping is not held inside the printer. The printer codes (A) and (B) shown in FIG. 15 are based on the hexadecimal notation of JIS, and each code is 2 bytes and the upper byte and the lower byte are both 0x21 to 0x7E (0x is a hexadecimal number) Represents the range). The internal code of the font data is Unicode, which is represented by UCS2 (each character 2 bytes). The printer character code and the internal code have all characters to be printed. The standard mapping is 8836 characters, and the external character mapping is up to 1880 characters (shift JIS external character area) depending on the font.
[0042]
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the detailed setting of the font. First, in step S1601, the user selects and instructs a font file for which detailed settings are to be made from font files displayed on the screen. Here, the detail screen shown in FIG. 14 is displayed. Next, in step S1602, the Graphic Set of the selected and designated font is selected from the list. Then, in step S1603, the typeface name (Type Face name) is input, and the process ends.
[0043]
FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a font loading operation. First, in step S1701, the font is converted into a loadable format (a format that depends on the type of printer). Next, in step S1702, it is determined whether the Graphic Set selected in step S1602 is an external character. If the character is an external character, the process advances to step S1703 to add a conversion table for external character mapping to the converted font converted in step S1701. If it is determined in step S1702 that the character is not an external character, the process advances to step S1704 to load the converted font.
[0044]
As described above, the resource to be loaded is held as a file, only the type of the resource written in the file is displayed, and the load target is set, so that the downloader, font, form, It is possible to easily perform customization according to the purpose and operation, such as a downloader specialized for a specific resource, such as a downloader capable of loading a color profile, or a general-purpose downloader.
[0045]
Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), the present invention can be applied to an apparatus (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile device, etc.) including one device. May be applied.
[0046]
Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a recording medium in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the recording medium in the recording medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code thus read.
[0047]
In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
[0048]
As a recording medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like is used. be able to.
[0049]
When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where some or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.
[0050]
Further, after the program code 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 is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.
[0051]
Hereinafter, examples of embodiments of the present invention will be listed.
[Embodiment 1] A resource setting method capable of customizing the type of resource to be loaded to a device having a print function,
A step of identifying a device to load the resource;
A setting step of setting a resource selected based on the type of the loadable resource for the specified device as a load target,
Loading the set resource into the specified device.
Embodiment 2 The resource setting method according to Embodiment 1, wherein a plurality of devices can be specified in the specifying step.
[Embodiment 3] The setting step includes a display step of displaying a type of a resource that can be loaded on the specified device. The resource setting method according to the first embodiment, wherein the setting is performed.
[Embodiment 4] The resource setting method according to Embodiment 1, wherein in the setting step, the type of the resource is set so as to be customizable for the specified device.
[Embodiment 5] An information processing apparatus for setting a type of resource to be loaded to a device having a print function in a customizable manner,
A means for identifying a device to load the resource;
Setting means for setting a resource selected based on a type of a loadable resource for the specified device as a load target;
Loading means for loading the set resource into the specified device.
[Sixth Embodiment] A program for causing a computer to execute the resource setting method according to any one of the first to fourth embodiments.
[Seventh Embodiment] A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to the sixth embodiment is recorded.
[0052]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily customize the types of resources that can be loaded into a device according to the usage environment, such as for administrators and general users.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating one screen of a resource downloader according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating one screen of a resource downloader according to the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a resource downloader.
FIG. 5 is a screen of a device group creation process (S401) shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a screen of a device group registration process (S402) shown in FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a device information file according to the embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for determining a type of a resource to be displayed when a device group is created.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a resource management table and a mapping table.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a screen of a resource downloader when a color profile is loaded to a LIPS printer.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a screen of a resource downloader when loading a color profile into a PS printer.
FIG. 12 is a screen showing details of a color profile file.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart for determining whether a color profile can be loaded.
FIG. 14 is a screen showing details of a font file.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a conversion table of printer character codes and internal codes of font data.
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an operation of detailed font setting.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a font loading operation.
[Explanation of symbols]
101 network 102 personal computer 103 printer 104 printer

Claims (1)

A resource setting method capable of customizing a type of a resource to be loaded to a device having a print function,
A step of identifying a device to load the resource;
A setting step of setting a resource selected based on the type of the loadable resource for the specified device as a load target,
Loading the set resource into the specified device.

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