JP2004171601A - Information processing method, information processing apparatus, program and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a structure that can realize an efficient print setting in print settings for a plurality of printer drivers. <P>SOLUTION: An information processing method, which employs a virtual printer processing a predetermined output method with use of a plurality of member printers, includes the steps of displaying multiple print setting information representing setting information set for each of the plurality of member printers in an optional form, setting to the plurality of member printers settings based on the predetermined multiple print setting information selected out of the displayed multiple print setting information, and reflecting on the multiple print setting information the setting set via a user interface displayed for performing an individual setting on each of the plurality of member printers. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control device and a print control method for performing print control on a document to be printed, a computer-executable program for performing print data processing, and a storage medium storing a computer-readable program.

  In recent years, network devices have been generally used, and a large number of personal computers (hereinafter, referred to as PCs) and printers have been connected on the network. In such a network environment, a print job control system that processes one print job using a plurality of printers can be configured. As such a print job control system, a distributed printing system, a color / monochrome distributed printing system, a broadcast printing system, an error proxy printing system, and the like are known.

  When printing, a distributed printing system spools a print job once for a document with many pages or a document with many copies in order to reduce the printing time, and prints it to multiple printers for each page or number of copies. This is a print job control system that outputs in a distributed manner.

  Further, in the color / monochrome distributed printing system, in a network environment as described above, for one document in which color pages and monochrome pages are mixed, in order to reduce the cost and printing time at the time of printing, the color pages are A print job control system for distributing monochrome pages to a color printer and outputting the monochrome pages to a monochrome printer.

  The broadcast printing system is a print job control system that simultaneously transmits and prints one document to a plurality of printers with a single print instruction in the above-described network environment.

  Further, the error proxy printing system is a print job control that automatically switches to another printer for printing when an error occurs in a document sent to one printer in the network environment as described above. System.

  In the above-described print job control system, in order to easily set individual printers, a print instruction to a plurality of connected printers is issued to a single virtual printer driver (group printer) Driver) to set the print job control system itself.

On the other hand, in a user interface of a printer driver such as a normal single printer, each setting item is collectively registered, and a plurality of setting items are collectively selected by an operator selecting the registered setting. A function for setting is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-222159 (Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2000-222159

  However, when a print job control system uses a plurality of printers to perform printing such as distribution, broadcasting, and proxy printing, the detailed settings of each printer driver that actually outputs data cannot be set by the group printer driver. There are cases. In such a case, the setting must be made for each individual printer driver (member printer driver), and a complicated operation of individually setting each time a change is made is required.

  In addition, since the detailed settings as described above are held in the individual member printer drivers, the contents are updated each time a change is made. Therefore, even if it is desired to temporarily change the setting, the setting is saved, and it is necessary to reset the setting at the time of next printing, which is troublesome.

  Further, even if the "favorite" function disclosed in JP-A-2000-222159 can be used, only the setting of the group printer driver can be registered. Therefore, the above detailed setting in the member printer driver is also set individually. I had to do it.

  As described above, composite setting information indicating a plurality of print settings such as a paper size and a print resolution set via a plurality of setting sheets via a predetermined printer driver UI as in the related art is stored. In such a mechanism, when performing print setting for a plurality of printer drivers as described above, each member printer driver is opened and the composite setting information stored for each printer driver is selected. The user has to perform very complicated work.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism capable of realizing efficient print settings in print settings for a plurality of printer drivers.

An information processing method according to the present invention for achieving the above object,
An information processing method in an information processing apparatus including a virtual printer that performs processing of a predetermined output method using a plurality of member printers,
A display control step of displaying composite print setting information indicating setting information set for each of the plurality of member printers in a selectable form;
A setting step of setting a setting based on predetermined composite print setting information selected from a plurality of composite print setting information displayed in the display control step for a plurality of member printers;
Reflecting a setting set via a user interface displayed to apply individual settings of each of the plurality of member printers to the composite print setting information.

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration. That is,
An information processing apparatus including a virtual printer that performs processing of a predetermined output method using a plurality of member printers,
Display control means for displaying composite print setting information indicating setting information set for each of the plurality of member printers in a selectable form;
Setting means for setting a setting based on predetermined composite print setting information selected from a plurality of composite print setting information displayed by control by the display control means for a plurality of member printers;
A reflection unit that reflects settings set via a user interface displayed for performing individual settings of the plurality of member printers on the composite print setting information.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a mechanism capable of realizing efficient print settings in print settings for a plurality of printer drivers.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(1st Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention can be applied. It is assumed that one or a plurality of client computers in this system are connected.

  In FIG. 1, reference numerals 102, 103, and 104 denote information processing devices (hereinafter, referred to as client computers) as clients, which are connected to a network 106 by a network cable such as Ethernet (registered trademark), and various programs such as application programs. Is executable. Each client is equipped with a printer driver having a function of converting print data into a printer language corresponding to the printer. The printer driver supports a plurality of printer drivers.

  Reference numeral 101 denotes an information processing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a print server) as a server according to the present embodiment, which is connected to a network 106 by a network cable, stores files used in the network 106, and uses the network 106 Or monitor. The print server 101 manages a plurality of printers connected to the network 106.

  Note that the configuration of the client computers 102 to 104 and the print server 101 is a general information processing apparatus, and a print control program for performing different controls is stored in the client computer and the print server in an executable manner. Further, the print server 101 can also have a function as a client at the same time.

  The print server 101 according to the present embodiment further has the following functions. That is, (1) a print job including print data for which a print request has been issued from the client computers 102, 103, and 104 is stored and printed. (2) Job information not including print data from the client computers 102, 103, and 104 To manage the print order of the client computers 102, 103, and 104, and notify the client whose print order has come of permission to transmit a print job including print data. (3) Status and printing of the network printer 105 Functions such as acquiring various types of job information and notifying the client computers 102, 103, and 104 are provided.

  A network printer 105 is a print control device, and is connected to a network 106 via a network interface (not shown). The network printer 105 receives a print job including print data transmitted from the client computer via the network 106, analyzes the print job, converts it into a dot image page by page, and prints the page image page by page. A network 106 connects the client computers 102, 103, and 104, the server 101, the network printer 105, and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The client computers 102, 103, and 104 are information processing devices and have the configuration shown in FIG. Further, the print server 101 has the same or similar hardware configuration as the configuration shown in FIG. Therefore, in the following description, FIG. 2 will be described as a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the client and the server.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 denotes a CPU serving as a control unit of the information processing apparatus, which executes an application program, a printer driver program, an OS, a network printer control program of the present embodiment, and the like stored in a hard disk (HD) 205. Control is performed to temporarily store information, files, and the like necessary for executing the program in the RAM 202.

  Reference numeral 201 denotes a ROM serving as storage means, which internally stores programs such as a basic I / O program and various data such as font data and template data used in document processing. Reference numeral 202 denotes a RAM serving as a temporary storage unit, which functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 200.

  Numeral 203 denotes a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) drive as a storage medium reading means, which loads a program or the like stored in an FD 204 as a storage medium into the computer system through an FD drive 203 as shown in FIG. can do. The storage medium is not limited to the FD, and may be any type such as a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a PC card, a DVD, an IC memory card, an MO, and a memory stick. Reference numeral 204 denotes a floppy disk (FD) as a storage medium, which is a storage medium storing a computer-readable program.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes one of external storage units, which is a hard disk (HD) functioning as a large-capacity memory, and stores an application program, a printer driver program, an OS, a network printer control program, related programs, and the like. Further, a spooler as a spool means is secured here. The spool means is a client spooler in a client, and is a server spooler in a print server. In the print server, a table for storing the job information received from the client and controlling the order is also stored in the external storage means.

  Reference numeral 206 denotes a keyboard, which is an instruction input unit. The keyboard 206 is used by a user to input a command of a device control command or the like to a print server by an operator or an administrator. Reference numeral 207 denotes a display serving as a display unit, which displays a command input from the keyboard 206, a status of the printer, and the like. A system bus 208 controls the flow of data in a computer that is a client or a print server. Reference numeral 209 denotes an interface serving as an input / output unit, and the information processing device exchanges data with an external device via the interface 209. The interface 209 is, for example, a network interface, and connects the network 106 and the system bus 208.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the RAM 202 illustrated in FIG. 2, in which the network printer control program is loaded from the FD 204 into the RAM 202 and is executable. In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which the network printer control program and related data are directly loaded from the FD 204 to the RAM 202 and executed. However, every time the network printer control program is operated, the network printer control program is already installed. For example, the control program may be loaded from the HD 205 into the RAM 202.

  The medium storing the network printer control program may be a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a PC card, a DVD, or an IC memory card other than the FD. Further, the present network printer control program may be stored in the ROM 201, configured to be a part of the memory map, and directly executed by the CPU 200. Further, software that realizes the same functions as those of the above devices may be configured as an alternative to a hardware device.

  Further, the network printer control program may be simply referred to as a print control program. The print control program includes a program for performing a control for instructing a client to change a print destination of a print job or for changing a print order, and also performs a print server order control for a print server. And a program for notifying the end of printing of a print job, a print destination change request, and the like.

  In the print control program according to the present embodiment that performs such control, the module installed in the client and the module installed in the print server may be separately separated, or one print control program may be executed. Depending on the environment, it may function for a client or may function for a print server. Alternatively, a configuration in which a module having a function for a client and a module having a function for a print server are installed together in one computer, and a parallel operation can be performed simultaneously or in a time-division manner.

  In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a basic I / O program, such as an IPL (initial program loading) function for loading the OS from the HD 205 into the RAM 202 and starting the operation of the OS when the control device is turned on. Is a program having Reference numeral 302 denotes an operating system (OS), and 303, a network printer control program, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 304 denotes related data, which is stored in an area secured on the RAM 202. Reference numeral 305 denotes a work area, which is an area reserved for temporary storage of data when the CPU 200 executes the printer control program.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG. 4, reference numeral 401 denotes volume information indicating data information; 402, directory information; 403, a network printer control program which is a print control program described in the present embodiment; The network printer control program 403 is programmed based on the flowchart described in the embodiment. In this embodiment, both the client and the server have the same configuration.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the FD drive 203 shown in FIG. 2 and the FD 204 inserted, and the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 5, the FD 204 stores the network printer control program and related data described in the present embodiment, as described in FIG.

  Next, there will be described a print job control system according to the present embodiment, which uses a plurality of printers to perform the above-described print processing such as distribution, broadcast, and proxy. In the present embodiment, a plurality of printers are virtually bundled as one printer, which is called a group printer (a virtual printer), and each bundled printer is called a member printer. The corresponding printer drivers are called a group printer driver and a member printer driver, respectively.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing how a print request issued from a general application such as Microsoft Word (trademark) in the client server model of the present system is processed in the print job control system. 6, reference numeral 600 denotes a client computer (corresponding to 102 to 104 in FIG. 1), which indicates a machine on which the client module of the print job control system according to the present embodiment operates. Reference numeral 610 denotes a print server, which corresponds to 101 in FIG.

  Normally, when printing is instructed, the application program generates a series of drawing commands (GDI functions), and the converted drawing commands (DDI functions) are passed to the printer driver via the OS. The printer driver generates a printer control language (PDL) that can be interpreted by the printer based on a drawing command input from the OS, and generates a print job created in JL (Job Language) (hereinafter also referred to as print job data). It is passed to a print spooler (for example, Windows Spooler) provided by the OS. The print spooler takes a procedure of passing print job data to the port monitor selected by the user and transmitting the print job data to the print device.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the user designates a port monitor 621 for the print job control system (hereinafter, abbreviated as a job control port monitor in the present embodiment) in advance and instructs printing. The application program 601 that has received the print instruction generates a series of drawing commands. The group printer driver 603 receiving the drawing command generates a general-purpose print file. The general-purpose print file will be described later. Then, the group printer driver 603 transmits the general-purpose print file to the job control port monitor 621 as print job data, not to the port monitor for transmitting print job data to the print device. Further, the job control port monitor 621 does not transmit the print job data to the print device 650, but transmits the print job data to a print service for print job control system 622 (hereinafter, abbreviated as job control print service in this embodiment). The job control print service 622 performs a print job control process described below on the received print job data. Note that the print job data received by the job control print service 622 is not an actual print job but a general-purpose print file as described above. As described later, a final print job is generated by later control. become.

  A print manager 623 for a print job control system (hereinafter, abbreviated as “job control print manager” in the present embodiment) allows a user to check the state of a print job inside the job control print service 622 or to manage a print job. It is a program for providing a user interface (hereinafter, UI) for performing operations. The job control print manager 623 exchanges information and instructions with the job control print service 622 via a software interface (API) of the job control print service 622.

  On the other hand, in the print server 610, the print job control system server 630 (hereinafter, abbreviated as “job control server” in the present embodiment) transmits print job data to the print device 650 by the job control print service 622 on each client 600. Centralized control (scheduling) is performed on the timing to perform. The print job control system management console 633 (hereinafter, abbreviated as “job control management console” in the present embodiment) exchanges information and instructions with the job control server 630 via an API to be accessed by software of the job control server 630. By doing so, the entire print job control system can be monitored.

  Further, the job control server 630 communicates with each print device 650 using the device information control module 631, and obtains information regarding a print job and an operation state in each print device, and performs operations. The obtained information can be passed to the job control print service 622 on the client 600 side.

  Next, printing from the group printer driver 603 in this embodiment will be described. The group printer driver 603 converts a series of drawing commands generated by the application program into a general-purpose print file that is an intermediate format file that does not depend on the type of print device. The configuration of the general-purpose print file will be described later.

  This general-purpose print file is guided from the spooler 604 via the job control port monitor 621 (a) to the job control print service 622 (b) as described above. The job control print service 622 generates a drawing command based on the general-purpose print file according to the type of job control performed on the print job (c), and the PDL driver 602 interprets the drawing command by the print device 650. Make a PDL file possible. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the job control print service 622 performs job control for dividing the print job into two print jobs. An example in which two member jobs are generated is indicated by two arrows (c). Is shown. The PDL file generated by the PDL driver 602 passes through the spooler 604 and the job control port monitor 621 (d), and is passed again to the job control print service 622 (e). The job control print service 622 transmits the PDL print job data to the print device 650 according to the instruction of the job control server 630 (f).

  The job control print service 622 logically divides one general-purpose print file into a plurality of print requests and transmits them to different print devices in accordance with instructions in a print instruction (job ticket) in the general-purpose print file. For example, the print job data transmitted once is transmitted again to another print device. (C), (d), (e), and (f) in FIG. 6 show the path of the print job data in such a case.

  On the other hand, when the application software creates a general-purpose print file, and the application software directly inputs the general-purpose print file as a print request, a general application is defined as a method of passing information to the group printer driver 603 and a method of passing information to the group printer driver 603. Is different.

  As described above, in the case of a general application, when the application passes the drawing information to the group printer driver 603, the application calls the GDI function of Windows OS (Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States) in the same manner as a normal printer driver, and The printer driver 603 generates a general-purpose print file accordingly. On the other hand, in the case of an application that directly creates a general-purpose print file, the application already has a general-purpose print file, and supplies it to the group printer driver 603. The group printer driver 603 rewrites the print instruction in the general-purpose print file and sends the rewritten print instruction to the spooler 604 based on a preset printing method as needed.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a general-purpose print file. The general-purpose print file used in the present embodiment includes a print instruction section 8-a and a document data section 8-b. The print instruction section 8-a is a portion in which document information and a print instruction are described. The document data section 8-b is obtained by converting document data of an application into data in a general format, and has a data format independent of a printer language.

  The print instruction section 8-a includes a header section, a page information section, a print format instruction section, an output method designation section, a group printer driver setting information section, the number of member printers, a member printer driver name, a member printer driver setting information section, and the like. ing. Hereinafter, these will be described.

  The header section is a section for storing information such as the version identification of this file and file information. The page information section is a section for storing information such as the number of pages of the document data of the document data section 8-b and the size of each page. The print format instructing unit is a portion for storing information on output format such as a print page range, the number of copies, imposition information of document data (N-UP, bookbinding printing, etc.), a staple instruction, a punch instruction, and the like. The output method designating section is a section for storing information such as distributed printing, color / monochrome distributed printing, proxy printing, and broadcast printing as output methods. The group printer driver setting information section is a section for storing print setting information of a group printer driver UI described later. The number of member printers is a part for storing the number of member printer drivers associated with the group printer driver. The member printer driver name is a part for storing the printer driver name of the member printer. The member printer driver setting information section stores, for example, DEVMODE information as print setting information of the driver UI of the member printer driver. The member printer driver name and the member printer driver setting information section have the same number of storage areas as the number of member printers.

  In the group printer driver 603 described with reference to FIG. 6, when generating a general-purpose print file, the settings on the GUI provided by the group printer driver are recorded in the print instruction unit 8-a. Further, the group printer driver 603 converts the data received from the application 601 by GDI into general-purpose data and records it as document data in the document data section 8-b of the general-purpose print file.

  The general-purpose print file may be a file in which the print instruction section 8-a and the document data section 8-b are different. In this case, the print instruction section exists as a print instruction file, and the document data section exists as a document data file, and these can be collectively treated as one file in one archive format.

  Next, referring to FIG. 7, the relationship between the PrintSystem provided by Windows and the print job in the print job control system and the processing outline will be described in further detail.

  In FIG. 7, a print job control system 700 indicates a range of the print job control system across physical machines on which server and client control programs operate. Output ports 711A and 711B managed by the server are associated with proxy output ports 712A and 712B of the job control print service 622 of the client, and each client associated with one port is output. All the above proxy output ports are managed uniformly. In this embodiment, the actual print job data is held in the proxy output port 712 of each client. The job control server 630 does not transmit the print job data itself, but only issues a print job transmission instruction to the job control print service 622. The job control print service 622 of the client transmits print job data to the device 650 according to the instruction.

  Next, processing in a case where the print job control system 700 performs value-added printing such as proxy printing, distributed printing, or broadcast printing will be described.

  When the print job control system 700 performs value-added printing such as proxy printing, distributed printing, or broadcast printing, as described above, the user or the application 601 sends a print job to the printer to which the group printer driver 603 is assigned. Must be issued. The job control print service 622 receives the job data processed by the group printer driver 603 as a general-purpose print file via the job control port monitor 621. The job control print service 622 receives this job, issues a job (member job) to another printer to which the PDL driver 602 is assigned via a de-spooler (De-spooler) 701, and performs printing.

  At this time, the despooler 701 interprets the print instruction section 8-a of the general-purpose print file described in FIG. 8, processes the document data in the document data section 8-b, converts the document data into GDI of Windows, and It issues a print instruction to the driver and issues a print job. For example, when a 2-UP instruction is recorded in the print format designation unit, the document data of two pages is reduced and laid out on one sheet of paper. In the case of distributed printing or broadcast printing, a job is issued to a plurality of member printer drivers described in the print instruction unit 8-a in accordance with the settings. In the case of proxy printing, when a proxy condition is satisfied, a member job is issued in accordance with a preset setting in the automatic proxy and in response to a user operation in the manual proxy.

  When the despooler 701 issues a job to each member printer driver, it is necessary to create a DEVMODE of each member printer driver as a print instruction corresponding to the member printer driver, and this DEVMODE is transmitted to the print instruction unit 8-a. It is generated by appropriately reflecting the described contents in the DEVMODE of each member printer driver.

  The client-side job control print service 622 receives the PDL data of each member job, rendered by the PDL driver 602, via the job control port monitor 621, notifies the server of information on the received job, and executes job data Are temporarily stored in their own proxy output queues (Proxy Output Ports) 712A and 712B. After that, after receiving a transmission instruction from the job control server 630, the stored print job is transmitted to the print device 650.

  Next, control of the group printer driver for the print job control system in the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing how the group printer driver is set in the present embodiment. FIG. 15 corresponds to a state of setting at the time of installation of the print job control system of the present embodiment, or a state of setting changed when the setting is changed in accordance with a user's instruction.

  As shown in FIG. 15, a combination of the printer drivers A, B, and C, various setting values set in each member printer driver, and a user (not shown) displayed on the display unit at the time of installation. The output method specified through the interface is stored as a default value. As for the output method, normal printing in which a normal specific single printer performs print processing, or distributed printing, broadcast printing, color / monochrome distributed printing, proxy printing, and the like described above can be used. .

  FIG. 16 shows an example of the user interface of the group printer driver when the settings shown in FIG. 15 are made. In FIG. 16, ratio dispersion is specified for the output method, and in 1601, printers A, B, and C are set as member printer drivers constituting the group printer driver. Reference numeral 1602 denotes an operation button for instructing addition / deletion of a member printer driver. For example, when a press instruction is input to 1602 while the printer A is selected as shown in FIG. The control program controls the member printer driver to delete the member printer driver.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing control flow during UI display processing of the group printer driver according to the present embodiment. The processing of each step of the flowchart of FIG. 9 is performed by the CPU (central processing unit) provided in the information processing apparatus described above, stored in a predetermined storage medium such as a ROM or an FD, a hard disk (HD) or the like. It is realized by reading a control program that has been read and executing processing based on the read program.

  First, in step S901, when a UI display request is received from an application via the Windows system, the name of a member printer that can be used by the group printer driver is acquired using the print job control system API. Here, the acquired member printer driver names indicate a plurality of member printer drivers stored in the print job control system (group printer driver) at the time when the process of step S901 is executed. Further, the method of acquiring a plurality of stored member printer drivers is not limited to the member printer driver name, but any member printer driver identification information capable of identifying each member printer driver can be used. Applicable to the invention.

  Next, in step S902, a comparison process is performed between the member printer configuration (member printer identification information) held by the group printer driver as a default and the member printer name acquired in step S901. The process in step S902 corresponds to a process of comparing a member printer driver configuration (member printer driver identification information) held by the group printer driver as a default with a member printer driver stored as a program entity in the information processing apparatus. . For example, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, when a group printer driver holds three member printer driver names of member printer drivers A, B, and C as default values, the member printer drivers A, B are actually used. , C correspond to the processing of step S902.

  As a result of the comparison processing in step S902, if any of the member printers cannot be used in the print job control system, that is, if the substance of the member printer driver held as identification information by the group printer driver is If it is determined that the information is not stored in a form usable for the user, the process proceeds to step S903, and a warning message as shown in FIG. 12 is displayed. In the display of FIG. 12, a display based on screen information for displaying a user interface included in the print control program (including the group printer driver) of the present embodiment is displayed on the display unit via the OS. The other displays in the present embodiment also correspond to those displayed by the same mechanism.

  In step S904, the member printer driver determined to be unusable is deleted from the current configuration of the member printer driver, and the process is continued.

  After that, in step S905, processing for displaying the group printer driver UI is performed.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the UI display process (step S905) of FIG. The processing of each step in the flowchart of FIG. 10 is performed by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) provided in the information processing apparatus described above, stored in a predetermined storage medium such as a ROM or an FD, a hard disk (HD) or the like. It is realized by reading a control program that has been read and executing processing based on the read program.

  Hereinafter, the processing illustrated in FIG. 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 13 as an example of an actual user interface.

  First, in step S1001, a combo box list displayed as indicated by 1301 in FIG. 13 is instructed according to a user operation, and it is determined whether a “favorite” other than the currently selected “favorite” has been selected. Actually, when this UI is displayed, list information for displaying a plurality of registered “favorites” as a list in a form in which the user can select any of them is generated. When a push signal for button 1301 in FIG. 13 is input, a list of one or more favorite settings currently registered is displayed, and the user selects a desired favorite from among them. Can be. In step S1001, it is determined whether another favorite has been newly selected from the list. In this specification, “favorite” is composite print setting information for registering print setting information for a plurality of member printers.

  If it is determined in step S1001 that the favorite selection has been changed, in step S1002, processing for confirming the setting associated with the selection change of “favorite” is performed. The details of step S1002 will be described later.

  In step S1003, a determination is made as to whether the content changed in step S1002 is a change permitted. If the result of the determination in step S1003 is Yes, the control of all sheets is changed in step S1004 according to the new setting, and the setting of all member printers is also changed to the setting held as a favorite. . On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step S1003 is No, the process returns to step S1001 without changing the setting.

  If it is determined in step S1001 that the selection of “favorite” has not been changed, the process proceeds to step S1005. In step S1005, it is determined whether or not pressing of a “favorite addition button” as indicated by 1302 in FIG. 13 has been input to the operator in accordance with the instruction.

  If it is determined in step S1005 that the add button has been pressed, in step S1006, a series of processes for registering a favorite with the current settings is performed. The current settings include setting values of each item set via a user interface (“page setting” sheet) as shown in FIG. 13 and a user interface (“output setting” sheet) as shown in FIG. (In this example, the member printer can be added or deleted by operating the “add / delete printer” button 1602 on the output setting sheet) and others Up to the set values set via the respective user interfaces on which each sheet such as “finish”, “feed”, and “print quality” are selected and displayed are registered (stored) as favorite settings.

  In the favorite registration process, the print setting information including the print setting information set via the individual UI of each member printer driver as well as the print setting information set via the group printer driver UI is named. And registered. The name at that time may be input by the user, or may be determined from the date and time or the setting content. Note that the registration of a favorite stores (copies) data based on the data structure of DEVEMODE (including both common setting items and extended setting items described later with reference to FIG. 15). In the present embodiment, as described later with reference to FIG. 21, the DEVMODE of the group printer driver and the DEVMODE of each member printer driver are stored together.

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a favorite registration process according to the present embodiment. When button 1302 shown in FIG. 13 is clicked, a registration screen (not shown) is displayed in step S2001, and the user is prompted to input a favorite name. When the name is input, the process advances to step S2002 to acquire a member printer registered as the current group printer. For example, as described with reference to FIG. 16, if the member printers A, B, and C are registered, the printers A, B, and C are acquired in this step. At this time, the DEVMODE of the group printer is obtained and added to the favorite data. Then, in steps S2003 and S2004, the DEVMODE of the member printer obtained in step S2002 is sequentially obtained, and is additionally stored as the favorite information in association with information for identifying the member printer.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration of a favorite generated by the processing of FIG. DEVMODE information is registered for the group printer and each member printer. The DEVMODE of the group printer driver includes, in addition to the setting contents of the common setting items, instructions of a printing method such as distribution, proxy, and broadcast, and settings of the print job control system such as a list of member printers. Therefore, when a favorite is selected, the common setting items set by the group printer driver and the printing method are restored, and the registered DEVMODE information is passed to each of the member printers A, B, and C. (Step S1004), settings are made for each member printer, and the state registered as a favorite is completely restored. Note that the relationship between the configuration in FIG. 21 and the configuration in FIG. 15 will be described. Printer drivers 1501 to 1503 correspond to printer IDs, and the setting contents for each setting item correspond to DEVMODE information.

  In steps S1001 to S1007, the configuration of the member printers constituting the group printer is registered for each "favorite", and if a desired favorite is selected, the member printer registered in the favorite is registered. On the other hand, the print setting information recorded in the favorites is reflected. For example, even if a group printer is currently operating with printer drivers A, B, and D as printer drivers, if the member configuration of a newly selected favorite member printer is A, B, or C, the favorite is selected. At this point, the member printer configurations become A, B, and C. However, the configuration of the member printer may not be registered for “favorite”. In this case, the print setting information registered as a favorite is reflected on a member printer driver that can be used at that time and a member printer configuration set by another operation at that time. That is, for example, when a group printer is currently operating with printer drivers A, B, and D as printer drivers, the print setting information registered as a favorite for the printer driver having the member configuration is reflected. Become.

  Subsequently, in step 1007, the display of “favorite” in 1301 is changed so that the newly registered one is selected, and the process returns to step S1001.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1005 that the add button 1302 has not been pressed, it is determined in step S1008 whether settings other than “favorite” (for example, paper size) have been changed by a user's instruction. I do. If it is determined in step S1008 that the setting has been changed, it is determined in step S1009 whether the operation is a configuration operation such as addition or deletion of a member printer. If the result of determination in step S1009 is that the operation is for a member printer driver configuration, in step S1010 a confirmation process is performed to determine whether setting is possible, and the process proceeds to step S1011.

  In step S1011, it is determined whether the configuration of the member printer driver can be changed. This determination processing corresponds to the same processing as the processing in step S1002 described with reference to FIG. That is, it is determined whether each member printer driver corresponding to the changed configuration of the member printer driver is stored in a form in which the present print job control program can be used. For example, only the entity of the printer driver corresponding to the names of the member printer drivers A, B, and C shown in FIG. 15 (including the control program in addition to the name of the printer driver) can use the print job control program. In such a case, even if simple deletion of a member printer driver is permitted, addition of a new member printer driver D is not permitted.

  If it is determined in step S1011 that the change can be made, the process proceeds to step S1012.

  As a result of the determination in step S1009, if it is determined that the setting change is other than a change in the member printer driver configuration (No), the process directly proceeds to step S1012 to change the instructed setting. For example, a change in the setting of any item shown in FIG. 15 corresponds to this.

  As a result of the processing in step S1012, the setting content of the “favorite” currently selected for display is different from the actual setting, so the UI display is changed to clearly indicate the setting (step S1013). Specifically, for example, the color is changed from black to another color, or the icon is changed and displayed. FIG. 14 is a display example in a state where the display is changed. That is, when the setting is changed from “1 page / sheet” to “2 pages / sheet” as shown in the page layout 1402, the contents of the combo box list 1301 in FIG. Is done.

  The above determination is repeated until the user closes the dialog, that is, until a setting end instruction is issued. (Step S1014).

  Next, details of the confirmation processing (step S1002) as to whether the setting can be changed will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. The processing of each step in the flowchart of FIG. 11 is performed by a CPU (central processing unit) provided in the information processing apparatus described above, stored in a predetermined storage medium such as a ROM or an FD, a hard disk (HD) or the like. It is realized by reading a control program that has been read and executing processing based on the read program.

  First, in step S1101, a member printer driver name that can be used by a group printer driver is acquired using the print job control system API. In step S1102, one or more member printer driver names acquired in step S1101 and the configuration of the member printers held by the group printer driver corresponding to "favorite" (identification information of the plurality of member printer drivers) Compare with

  For example, when the configuration of the member printer driver corresponding to the selected new “favorite” is the printer driver A and the printer driver B described with reference to FIG. 15, now, as shown in FIG. If the member printer driver is registered in a usable state, the result of the determination in step S1102 is Yes. On the other hand, the configuration of the member printer driver corresponding to the selected new “favorite” includes the printer driver D, and the printer driver D is not installed, or the print job control program can be used. In a case where the information is not registered in a proper form, the result of the determination in step S1102 is No.

  If any of the member printers cannot be used in the print job control system as a result of the comparison in step S1102, a warning message as shown in FIG. 12 is displayed in step S1104. In this case, the change in the configuration of the member printer driver is not permitted (step S1105). On the other hand, if all the member printers specified by the new member printer configuration can be used in step S1102, the change in the member printer configuration is permitted in step S1103, and a series of processing ends.

  In step S1105, the configuration change of the member printer is not permitted. However, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, as another embodiment of step S1105, an unusable member printer may be deleted from the current member printer configuration, and then the change of the member printer configuration may be permitted. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to realize a print setting environment that further meets the user's desire.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to register detailed settings by the member printer driver as favorites. When a favorite is selected, the settings of all member printers used by the group printer driver can be restored by a single operation.

  In addition, since the favorite registration saves or copies data based on the DEVEMODE data structure, for example, even if a member printer driver does not recognize the extended setting items, the setting is saved in the member printer driver. The setting can be restored simply by passing the current DEVEMODE.

(Second embodiment)
In the second embodiment, the setting via the user interface of the group printer driver described in the first embodiment will be described in more detail.

  17 to 19 are flowcharts showing the control flow of the print job control program. The processing of each step in the flowcharts of FIGS. 17 to 19 is performed by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) provided in the information processing apparatus described above and stored in a predetermined storage medium such as a ROM, an FD, and a hard disk (HD). It is realized by reading the read control program and executing processing based on the read program.

  First, in step S1701, a UI display request of the group printer driver via the OS is received. In step S1702, the print job control system API is used to query the IDs (for example, names) of the member printer drivers constituting the group printer driver, and acquire the IDs of all the member printer drivers constituting the group printer. In step S1703, the capability of the member printer driver is obtained from the identification ID of each member printer driver acquired in step S1702. In step S1703, for all the member printer drivers constituting the group printer, the group printer driver can acquire the driver function up to the extended area of the driver setting information and can control the driver UI. It checks whether the driver is a function-controllable driver or the other driver is a function-uncontrollable driver, and obtains information on whether function control is possible. It should be noted that whether the function can be controlled includes checking a response to a predetermined inquiry (for example, APIcall).

  Step S1704 is a step in which the configuration of the member printer is determined from the function control availability information obtained in step S1704. If the configuration includes only the "function controllable driver", step S1705 (to the processing in FIG. 18). The process proceeds to step S1706 (transition to the process of FIG. 19) in other configurations.

  It should be noted that the common setting items and the extended setting items are as shown in FIG. 15, and the data format of the common setting items does not differ depending on the provider, and has a common data format. Further, the data format (meaning of data) of the extended setting item differs depending on the provider, and can be read, but corresponds to a case where it cannot be recognized.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing details of step S1705. In step S1801, each member printer driver inquires about the capability of each common setting item, performs a function conflict process, and selects an item to be displayed on the group printer driver UI based on the result. Note that function conflict processing refers to checking the presence or absence of the function of each setting item for each target member printer driver of the group printer, and if all the target member printer drivers have functions, In the group printer driver UI, the function is treated as a settable item. If even one device has no function, the item is treated as a non-settable item.

  In step S1802, the conflict processing of the function shown in the above step is performed for the extended setting items of each member printer driver. In step S1803, the group printer driver UI is displayed based on the result of the conflict processing executed in steps S1801 and S1802, and each item is set according to a user instruction.

  At this time, as a result of the conflict processing, UI control such as graying out or non-displaying an item of a function that does not exist in some of the member printers so that the function cannot be set on the UI is performed. I do. On the other hand, such a UI control is not performed for a function that is common to all member printers. Further, in this step, UI control is performed so that a combination that is impossible in terms of function, such as punching or stapling when “bookbinding printing” is specified by the user, cannot be set, and contradiction does not occur in the setting items. Also do.

  In step S1804, it is determined whether or not a member printer driver has been designated in order to open a member printer UI and set an item having no setting item on the group printer driver UI in detail. The designated member printer driver is one of the member printers constituting the group printer driver. For example, the member printer driver is selected from a list of member printer drivers shown in FIG. 16 according to an input via a pointing device such as a mouse. .

  If it is determined in step S1804 that any one of the member printer drivers has been selected, the process advances to step S1805, where the member printer driver UI specified in step S1804 is displayed, and detailed settings are made via this UI.

  For example, when the printer driver C shown in FIG. 16 is selected, an individual member printer driver UI of the printer driver C is displayed, and when the setting of “Water Mark” is set to “Yes”, FIG. As shown in 1505, the setting of “Water Mark” of the printer driver C is set to “Yes”.

  This corresponds to, for example, a process performed when only the printer driver C has a Water Mark function.

  Here, if the registration of a favorite is instructed in a state where the setting of “Water Mark” is set to “Yes” in the printer driver C without being changed (Yes in step S1005) ), Print setting information individually set by the member printer driver UI is also saved (registered) as a part of the favorite composite print setting information. Of course, the print setting information of each item set in the group printer driver UI is also stored (registered) as the composite print setting information.

Note that when the member printer driver UI is opened, items that can be set in the group printer driver can also be set, and if the same function is set in both, processing will be duplicated. In order to prevent such a problem, the following UI control is performed and display is performed.
(A) When the member printer is a “driver capable of function control”, items that conflict with the setting items on the group printer driver UI are grayed out so that the setting cannot be performed on the member printer driver UI. Alternatively, UI control is performed as non-display.
(B) If the member printer is a “driver whose function cannot be controlled”, common setting items are displayed on the UI with the settings set by the member printer driver. If the item is changed on the member printer driver UI after the UI is displayed, in the step of closing the driver UI, the information of the setting item set in the group printer driver is overwritten with the common setting item of the corresponding member printer driver, The setting change on the member printer UI is not allowed.

  Further, when performing the overwriting process, it is also possible to display a warning indicating that the setting change on the member printer UI is invalid.

  In step S1805, since all of the target member printers are "function controllable drivers", the UI control (A) is performed.

  When the processing in step S1805 ends, the processing moves to step S1707 in FIG.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing details of step S1706. When the process shifts to step S1706, the configuration of the member printer driver is different from that of step S1705, and the configuration of the member printer driver is a mixture of a “driver that can control functions” and a “driver that cannot control functions”. Is the case of only the “driver whose function cannot be controlled”. Therefore, in this case, the items that can be set in the group printer driver UI are limited to common setting items that can read and write print setting information in common.

  In step S1901, in a manner similar to step S1801 in FIG. 18, each member printer driver is inquired of the capability regarding each common setting item, and a function conflict process is performed. Is performed. In step S1902, a group printer driver UI is displayed based on the result of the UI conflict process performed in step S1901. In this step, as a result of the conflict processing, controls having no function and extended setting items are controlled so as to be grayed out or hidden as non-settable items so that setting cannot be performed on the group printer driver UI. Will be applied.

  When setting the extended setting items and the unique setting items of each member printer which cannot be set in step S1902, it is necessary to use the UI of each member printer. Therefore, in step S1903, it is determined whether a member printer to be set has been designated on the group printer driver UI to open the UI of the member printer. If a member printer has been designated, the flow advances to step S1904 to open the member printer driver UI designated in step S1903, and the user can make detailed settings.

For example, when the printer driver C shown in FIG. 16 is selected (corresponding to step S1903), the individual member printer driver UI of the printer driver C is displayed, and the setting of "Water Mark" is set to "Yes". As shown in 1505 in FIG. 15, the setting of “Water Mark” of the printer driver C is set to “Yes”.
This is because, for example, the respective providers of the printer drivers A, B, and C are different and the data format of the extended setting items (data meaning is different), and the printer driver C has the function of Water Mark. In this case, it corresponds to the processing to be performed.

  Here, if registration of a favorite is instructed in the state where the setting of “Water Mark” is set to “Yes” in the printer driver C without being changed (Yes in step S1005), The item information individually set in the member printer driver UI is also saved (registered) as a part of the favorite setting state. Of course, the print setting information of each item set in the group printer driver UI is also stored (registered) as favorite print setting information.

  After step S1904, the process proceeds to step S1707 in FIG.

  According to the flowcharts of FIGS. 17 to 19 and FIG. 10 described above, the item information set via the user interface of the member printer driver is also saved (registered) as a part of the favorite print setting information. Therefore, after that, in a process in which this favorite is selected and set collectively for a plurality of member printer drivers (for example, S1004), it is assumed that the favorite is individually set via the user interface of the member printer driver. The print setting information (for example, “Water Mark” described above) is also restored to the member printer driver for which the individual setting is performed, so that a more user-friendly user interface can be provided for the user.

  As described above, according to each of the above-described embodiments, in a mode in which the setting contents of a plurality of member printer drivers are collectively set via the group printer driver UI, the print setting information is set to the composite print setting (favorite). ) Can be saved. In addition, since the user can use the stored composite print settings again, the user can open the UI of each individual member printer driver several times during printing processing for a plurality of member printer drivers. Does not need to be set individually.

  Further, the unique settings of the member printer driver held can be registered in the composite setting list as a part of the composite print setting information. Furthermore, a plurality of types of composite print setting information can be registered, and a mechanism for selecting the same from a list can be realized, so that the usability of the user is further improved.

  The present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), but it can be applied to a device including one device (for example, a copier, a facsimile device, etc.) May be applied.

  Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus to store the storage medium. It is needless to say that the present invention can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the program.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, and the like can be used.

  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 part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage 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.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of a RAM 202 illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of the FD 204 illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship with an FD 204 inserted into the FD drive 203 illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a print control module configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a print control module configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a general-purpose print file according to the embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing control flow of a user interface of the group printer driver according to the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart illustrating a processing control flow during UI display processing of the group printer driver according to the present embodiment. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process control flow for checking whether settings changed during UI display processing of the group printer driver according to the embodiment are valid. It is a figure showing an example of the warning display which constitutes this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface configuring the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface configuring the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a setting state of a group printer driver according to the embodiment. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface of the group printer driver when the settings illustrated in FIG. 15 are performed. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a control flow of a print job control program according to a second embodiment. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a control flow of a print job control program according to a second embodiment. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a control flow of a print job control program according to a second embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a favorite registration process according to the embodiment. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of a favorite generated by the processing of FIG. 20.

Claims (4)

An information processing method in an information processing apparatus including a virtual printer that performs processing of a predetermined output method using a plurality of member printers,
A display control step of displaying composite print setting information indicating setting information set for each of the plurality of member printers in a selectable form;
A setting step of setting a setting based on predetermined composite print setting information selected from a plurality of composite print setting information displayed in the display control step for a plurality of member printers;
Reflecting a setting set via a user interface displayed to perform individual setting of each of the plurality of member printers in the composite print setting information. . An information processing apparatus including a virtual printer that performs processing of a predetermined output method using a plurality of member printers,
Display control means for displaying composite print setting information indicating setting information set for each of the plurality of member printers in a selectable form;
Setting means for setting a setting based on predetermined composite print setting information selected from a plurality of composite print setting information displayed by control by the display control means for a plurality of member printers;
An information processing apparatus, comprising: a reflection unit configured to reflect, in the composite print setting information, a setting set via a user interface displayed for performing individual setting of each of the plurality of member printers. . A program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to claim 1. A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 3.

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