JP2005063112A - Driving condition acquisition device, driving condition acquisition method, driving condition acquisition program, print control device, print control method, print control program, and data structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving condition acquisition device which generates data for rapidly acquiring the settable ranges of driving conditions when the driving conditions having complicated dependence relations with one another are set, and also provide a driving condition acquisition method, driving condition acquisition program, print control device, print control method, print control program and data structure thereof. <P>SOLUTION: When the settable ranges of the driving conditions for peripheral equipment connected to a computer are extracted, the driving conditions are set to the peripheral equipment, and the driving conditions are also set to peripheral equipment control parts driving the peripheral equipment. The settable ranges of other driving conditions in the setting can be acquired. The dependence relation data indicating dependence relations among the driving conditions are stored in a prescribed storage medium, and specific driving conditions are set to specific setting values by the peripheral equipment control parts, and then the settable ranges of other driving conditions depending on the specific driving conditions are acquired by referring to the dependence relations, and the settable range data indicating the settable ranges concerned are stored in the prescribed storage medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a drive condition acquisition apparatus, a drive condition acquisition method, a drive condition acquisition program, a print control apparatus, a print control method, a print control program, and a data structure.

  A control program called a driver is usually used to drive peripheral devices of a computer such as a printing apparatus. In this driver, setting of driving conditions for driving the peripheral device is received, and the peripheral device is driven in accordance with this setting. Here, it is general that a UI (User Interface) is displayed on a display or the like, and a user sets driving conditions through this UI. In the UI, it is necessary to provide a settable range as an option for each driving condition of the peripheral device, but there are various kinds of application software executed by the computer, and the driving condition to be selected by the user is the application software. It is preferable for the user to provide a unique UI for each application software because it differs for each application software.

  On the other hand, even if the driving conditions are set by the UI, the driving conditions other than the driving conditions selected by the user and necessary for driving the peripheral device still need to be set for the driver. . Since the settings for the driver are set for the driver according to a predetermined format via the OS that is the basic software of the computer, even if the setting value of the drive condition is grasped by using the unique UI by the application software, Must be set to match the predetermined format. It is cumbersome for the application provider to set other driving conditions after making the setting using the UI as described above, without further contradicting this setting and matching the predetermined format. As a result, it is difficult for an application software provider to provide a unique UI, and a UI that is generally used in the OS is often used.

Therefore, the capability of the peripheral device (setting range of drive conditions) is acquired from the driver by the software I / F interposed between the application software and the OS, and provided to the UI display control unit, and the UI display control is performed. Technology has been developed in which a setting instruction for an arbitrary driving condition is received from the unit and set for the driver. This technique is applied to a configuration for easily executing printing by presetting (for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-252769

  In the conventional technology described above, in order to drive a peripheral device, it is generally necessary to set a plurality of driving conditions. However, there are driving conditions that are dependent on each other, and after a certain driving condition is set, It was difficult to display a settable range of other driving conditions at high speed and appropriately. In other words, when there is a dependency relationship between driving conditions, the settable range of other driving conditions may vary depending on the setting of a certain driving condition. Therefore, in order to display an appropriate UI, the above software I / F is used on the UI. It is necessary to obtain a settable range of all driving conditions that are to be displayed.

For this purpose, every time the drive conditions are changed on the UI, the software I / F can actually set the conditions for the driver, and all the drive conditions to be displayed can be set under the set conditions. You will get a range. This process often involves data exchange with the driver and cannot be executed at high speed. Therefore, stress is given to the user who visually recognizes the UI.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in setting a drive condition having a complicated dependency relationship, a drive condition acquisition apparatus and drive condition acquisition for creating data capable of acquiring a drive condition settable range at high speed An object is to provide a method, a drive condition acquisition program, a print control apparatus, a print control method, a print control program, and a data structure.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, dependency data indicating a dependency relationship between drive conditions is stored in advance, and a settable range for a drive condition having a dependency relationship with a certain drive condition is referred to with the dependency relationship data. get. In the drive condition setting means, it is possible to set a drive condition for the peripheral device and acquire a settable range of other drive conditions in this setting. Therefore, the settable range acquisition means is set via this drive condition setting means. Possible range can be acquired.

  That is, the driving conditions depend on each other in a plurality of driving conditions, but this dependency is described in the dependency data in advance. It can be understood which driving condition setting range fluctuates when it fluctuates, and the settable range can be acquired in consideration of complicated dependency relationships. It should be noted that when there is a relationship in which the settable range of other drive conditions varies when the set value of a specific drive condition is varied, both are dependent.

  If the settable range data indicating the settable range of the drive condition can be stored in a predetermined storage medium, this makes it possible to acquire the settable range of the drive condition at high speed and accurately in the computer. Accordingly, when the peripheral device is driven in the computer, it is possible to display a UI that provides an appropriate settable range as an option by referring to the settable range data at high speed. Even if this UI is a UI unique to an application program used on a computer, an appropriate settable range can be acquired by referring to the settable range data for the display target drive conditions displayed on the UI. Is possible.

  In the unique UI, a driving condition to be displayed on the UI may be appropriately selected according to the purpose for controlling the peripheral device. For example, application software for printing on specific print media such as postcards and slips does not require a UI for selecting the print media size as a drive condition, and prints a high-quality color image. If it is application software for this, it is not necessary to display a UI for selecting monochrome or color as a driving condition. Of course, even if the drive condition items displayed on the UI are minimized, other drive conditions may be optionally set for the user who wants to make detailed settings.

  Here, the peripheral device may be any device connected to a computer and driven, and various devices correspond to this peripheral device. For example, output devices such as printers, displays, and projectors that are connected to a computer to perform image output operations, input devices such as scanners and digital cameras that are connected to a computer and perform image input operations, and are connected to computers Various devices such as a recording device such as a hard disk drive for performing a data recording operation can be a peripheral device.

  The drive condition setting means only needs to be able to set a drive condition for a peripheral device and obtain a settable range of other drive conditions in this setting. It can be configured by an interface or the like. In other words, the driver is a program that is executed by the program execution environment on the computer and controls driving while setting various driving conditions for peripheral devices. When a certain driving condition is set to a certain setting value in this driver, A situation occurs where the drive condition cannot be set to a certain set value.

  Therefore, it is possible to configure the driver so that various instructions and inquiries can be made to the driver through the software interface. A certain driving condition can be set to a certain setting value in the driver, and each setting value can be set for other driving conditions in this state. If it is determined whether or not, the settable range can be acquired. In other words, if the configuration is such that the drive conditions can be set and the settable range can be acquired for the driver in the state where the driver for driving the peripheral device is installed in the computer, the settable range acquiring means can find out by the dependency relationship data. The settable range can be easily acquired simply by inquiring the settable range of the necessary drive condition according to the dependency.

  In the dependency relationship data, it is only necessary to be able to specify drive conditions having a dependency relationship when a set value of a specific drive condition is different and a range of set values that can be set under another drive condition varies. That is, by grasping the dependency relationship between the drive conditions from this dependency relationship data, the settable range can be acquired for the drive condition having the dependency relationship, and the settable range can be acquired even for the drive condition having no dependency relationship. It is possible to prevent the execution of processing and to create settable range data with the minimum necessary processing steps.

  Further, the settable range data only needs to be used when displaying a UI for setting drive conditions for peripheral devices, and only needs to be able to indicate a range of set values that can be set for each drive condition. . Of course, if there is a dependency relationship between a specific drive condition and another drive condition, the data specifying the set value of the specific drive condition and the settable range of the other drive condition at that set value are displayed. The settable range data is constituted by the data to be specified. Further, here, the setting value of the driving condition is not limited to the numerical value as long as the value corresponds to each condition. That is, the case where the drive condition is specified by a character string is included. However, in a device handled by a computer, a configuration in which each condition is associated with a numerical value and a driving condition is designated by the numerical value is preferable. In the data describing the settable range by the character string, when the drive condition options are displayed on the UI, the character string on the UI can be changed by changing the settable range.

  The dependency relationship may be a relationship in which the settable range of other drive conditions changes when the set value of a specific drive condition is changed. However, as a preferable configuration example, this dependency relationship forms a hierarchical structure. In this case, a configuration to which the present invention is applied may be adopted. That is, when the set value of a specific drive condition is changed, the settable range of other drive conditions is changed, so that the former drive condition is called an upper drive condition and the latter drive condition is called a lower drive condition. When the lower-level driving condition for a certain condition is higher than the other conditions, the dependency relationship forms a hierarchical structure when the upper-lower relationship is chained.

  In this case, a settable range of a certain drive condition forms a hierarchy of drive conditions having a relationship that a set value cannot be specified unless a set value is specified for the upper drive condition. First, a process of setting a specific drive condition as a specific set value for the upper drive condition and acquiring a settable range of the lower drive condition is sequentially performed toward the lower hierarchy. That is, when the lower drive condition that acquired the settable range is higher than the other drive conditions, the setting value is specified for the drive condition that acquired the settable range, and the other drive condition Performs processing to set the settable range.

  Of course, when there are a plurality of upper drive conditions for a certain drive condition, a settable range is acquired after specifying some set values for the plurality of drive conditions. With this configuration, it is possible to proceed with a series of processes without inquiring about the settable range in a situation where the settable range of the drive condition cannot be specified, and without performing unnecessary queries and settings.

  In such a configuration, the dependency relationship data can be provided in a very simple format. That is, drive conditions having a dependency relationship are described for each predetermined segment, and data in which drive conditions having a dependency relationship are associated with each other while an upper drive condition and a lower drive condition are associated in one segment. Are listed. This makes it easy to describe all complex dependencies. Further, as a preferable specific example of the settable range data, the higher-level drive condition and the set value are specified for the specified target drive condition that is the target of the settable range, and the higher-level condition is the set value. It is possible to adopt a configuration that describes a settable range when. Of course, here too, the settable range of each drive condition is described for each predetermined break, and the data that describes the settable range of the specified target drive condition as well as the upper condition and its set value in one break Can be adopted.

  Furthermore, as a configuration example suitable for the dependency relationship data, a configuration in which the dependency relationship data is held as a single file and settable range data can be described in this file can be adopted. In such a configuration, the settable range acquisition unit searches the file before setting the specific drive condition to a specific set value, and refers to the data when the settable range data of the specific drive condition is detected. By acquiring the settable range, it is possible to provide means for acquiring the settable range other than the inquiry to the drive condition setting means.

  That is, the drive condition setting means is configured by a driver for driving peripheral devices as described above, but an error exists in the driver and an appropriate settable range cannot be obtained by an inquiry to the driver. Even in this case, it is possible to acquire appropriate settable range data by the settable range acquisition means only by describing appropriate settable range data in the dependency relationship data. Therefore, appropriate data can be set as the settable range data stored in the predetermined storage medium.

  Even if changes such as the addition of a configurable range occur due to driver version upgrades, etc., only the configurable range data that needs to be changed is described in the dependency data, and then changed by the configurable range acquisition means. The settable range data of can be acquired. Therefore, when the settable range data is changed, the settable range data after the change is stored in the predetermined storage medium without updating all the settable range data (data before upgrading) stored in the predetermined storage medium. It is possible to save the time and labor of processing work.

  Furthermore, as a suitable processing example when acquiring the settable range by the settable range acquisition means, a configuration in which the stored settable range data is referred to before a specific driving condition is set to a specific set value is adopted. Is possible. That is, when it is detected by this reference that the settable range data for the other drive conditions has been described, the settable range data is adopted, and the settable range is not inquired to the drive condition setting means. Therefore, the settable range can be acquired simply by referring to the storage medium, and processing can be performed at a higher speed than when the settable range is acquired via the drive condition setting unit.

  Various situations may exist as situations where the drive condition settable range data has already been described. For example, in the configuration in which the set value is set first for the upper drive condition as described above and the settable range is sequentially acquired for the lower drive condition, the lower (hierarchy M + 1) setting is set for the drive condition of a certain hierarchy M. When there is a common set value in the possible range, a situation occurs in which the settable range has already been described for the settable range in the lower level (hierarchy M + 2). That is, when a certain set value is set for the driving condition of the hierarchy M and another setting value is set for the driving condition of the hierarchy M after the process of acquiring the hierarchy M + 1 and the hierarchy M + 2 and the settable range, If there is a common set value in the settable range, the settable range of the hierarchy M + 2 in this set value has been acquired.

  At this time, it is useless to repeatedly perform the process of acquiring the settable range of the hierarchy M + 2 in the set value. Therefore, the settable range is obtained by referring to the stored settable range data without making an inquiry to the drive condition setting means again for the set values described in the settable range data. As a result, processing can be performed at a higher speed than when the settable range is acquired via the drive condition setting means.

  Further, when the settable range data is stored in a predetermined storage medium, it is not essential to create and record the settable range data for all driving conditions. That is, the settable range data only needs to be used when displaying a UI for setting drive conditions for peripheral devices. When all the drive conditions are X, no more than X-1 drives. A configuration that creates settable range data for conditions may be employed.

  For example, the settable range can be set for drive conditions that have a very large number of dependent drive conditions and require a very long time to create settable range data, or drive conditions that are used less frequently on the UI. Can be configured not to create data. According to this configuration, it is possible to reduce the time for creating the settable range data. If settable range data creation means has not created settable range data for all drive conditions, and it is necessary to display on the UI for drive conditions that have not been created, obtain the settable range. The settable range data may be acquired by means. Of course, once the settable range data is acquired, this data is retained. In addition, when a part of the settable range data is excluded in the configuration in which the settable range data is automatically created and the part is not automatically created, these settable range data are manually created in advance. May be.

  In the configuration in which settable range data is stored for a part of all driving conditions, various configurations can be adopted as a reference for selecting the driving conditions to be stored. In a configuration in which the relationship forms a hierarchical structure as described above, a configuration in which settable range data is stored for drive conditions that depend on a predetermined number of upper layers or less can be employed. That is, in order to obtain a settable range for a drive condition that depends on a number of upper layers, it is necessary to acquire a settable range after specifying a set value in advance for a drive condition of a number of upper layers. As the settable range for each drive condition increases, the number of combinations increases dramatically.

Accordingly, it is necessary to repeat the setting of the driving condition for the driving condition of the upper hierarchy as many times as the number of combinations, and a large number of setting operations are required. Therefore, by acquiring the settable range data by excluding drive conditions that depend on a higher number of higher layers than the predetermined number, it is possible to shorten the time from the start to the end of creation of the settable range data. Such a configuration is particularly useful in a configuration in which settable range data is created before displaying a UI for the first time when a user drives a peripheral device on a computer. That is, the waiting time can be shortened until the UI is presented to the user by keeping the time for creating the settable range data short.

  Dependencies vary depending on the peripheral device model. Dependencies can be specified for each model in advance, and dependency data may be created manually. May be used. That is, the dependency of drive conditions may vary depending on the peripheral device model, but there are also common drive conditions. Actually, even in the case of a peripheral device having a plurality of drive conditions having a complicated dependency relationship such as a printer, there are more drive conditions having a dependency relationship common between models.

  Therefore, if a file in which data indicating the dependency on the driving conditions that are common dependency for a plurality of peripheral devices is created in advance, dependency data for each of the peripheral devices is generated. At the time of creation, the contents of the file are copied, and for the remaining data (data having different dependencies for each model), dependency data for each peripheral device may be created manually. With this configuration, dependency data of each peripheral device can be created with little effort.

  Further, as described above, the UI for setting the drive condition in the computer is displayed on a predetermined output device, and the settable range data is referred to when determining the settable range of each drive condition. Can do. In this configuration, it is preferable that the settable range data is acquired by the settable range acquisition unit according to the situation in order to display an appropriate UI. The settable range needs to be acquired when the settable range data is not registered in the computer or when the contents of the registered settable range data need to be updated.

  Therefore, when the UI is displayed for the first time on the computer for the peripheral device for which the drive condition is to be set, and when the UI is displayed for the first time after the drive condition setting means is updated, the components of the peripheral device are replaced. When the UI is displayed for the first time after that, or when a combination is generated, the settable range acquisition means acquires the settable range, so that the settable range data can always be set appropriately. .

  That is, when the UI is displayed for the first time on the computer, the settable range data is not stored in a predetermined storage medium. In this case, the settable range is acquired and stored as the settable range data. Thus, it becomes possible to display an appropriate UI thereafter. In addition, when the UI is displayed for the first time after the drive condition setting means configured by the driver or the like is updated, that is, when the driver is upgraded, the settable range may change due to function improvement or the like. In this case, if the settable range is acquired and the settable range data is updated, an appropriate UI can be displayed thereafter. Furthermore, when the UI is displayed for the first time after replacing the components of the peripheral device, the settable range may vary due to, for example, changing the ink in the printer, mounting accessories such as a cutter, or replacing the light source components in the scanner. Therefore, if the settable range is acquired and the settable range data is updated in this case, an appropriate UI can be displayed thereafter.

  The UI is displayed by referring to the settable range data to obtain the settable range of the drive condition and displaying options for setting the drive condition in the settable range for a predetermined output device. Driving condition input / output means for receiving an input of a setting value of the driving condition, and acquiring a settable range of the driving condition depending on the driving condition changed by the input of the setting value with reference to the settable range data; This can be realized by configuring driving condition update means for displaying a settable range of the dependent driving condition for a predetermined output device.

  As described above, the method for creating and storing the settable range data with reference to the dependency relationship data is not necessarily limited to a substantial apparatus, and may be a method invention such as the invention described in claim 9. It is valid. In addition, the above-described apparatus includes various aspects as the idea of the invention, such as being sometimes present alone or being used in a state of being incorporated in a certain device. Further, it can be changed as appropriate, such as software or hardware.

  When the UI control device software is realized as an embodiment of the idea of the invention, such software also corresponds to the present invention. As an example, the invention described in claim 10 specifies the invention as a drive condition acquisition program. Of course, the recording medium may be a magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, or any recording medium that will be developed in the future. In addition, the duplication stages such as the primary duplication product and the secondary duplication product are the same without any question. Further, the driving condition acquisition method and the driving condition acquisition program can be configured to correspond to the second to eighth aspects.

  Furthermore, when a printing apparatus is employed as a peripheral device, a print condition as a drive condition is set by the above-described UI, and setting range data can be created by referring to the dependency relationship data even in a configuration in which printing is executed. it can. For this reason, as in claims 11 to 13, the invention is established as a print control apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program. Of course, the print control apparatus, the print control method, and the print control program may have configurations corresponding to the second to eighth aspects.

  Furthermore, it is possible to specify the invention as a data structure as in claim 14 as a convenient format when referring to the settable range data created by the present invention for UI display or the like. That is, with respect to the driving conditions in which the dependency relationship forms a hierarchical structure, the settable range of the certain driving condition can be uniquely identified by specifying the set value for the upper level of the certain driving condition. The settable range is described with the set value of the upper drive condition. As a result, even a driving condition having a complicated dependency relationship can be described very simply, and when referring to a settable range for UI display or the like, any driving condition can be determined with respect to the certain driving condition. It is possible to easily determine whether the drive condition is higher, and it is also possible to easily obtain the settable range for the higher set value.

Here, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.
(1) Configuration of the present invention:
(1-1) Configuration of UI control module:
(2) Printer DB configuration:
(3) Configuration of resource DB:
(4) Print control process and UI display example:
(5) Resource DB construction processing:
(6) Other embodiments:

(1) Configuration of the present invention:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer serving as a print control apparatus according to the present invention. The computer 10 includes a CPU (not shown) that forms the center of the arithmetic processing, a ROM and a RAM 14 as storage media, and the like, and can execute a predetermined program using peripheral devices such as the HDD 15. An operation input device such as a keyboard and a mouse is connected to the computer 10 via a serial communication I / O 19a, and a display for display is also connected via a display I / O 19c. Further, it is connected to the printer 40 via a USB I / O 19b.

  The printer 40 according to the present embodiment includes a mechanism in which an ink cartridge filled with a plurality of colors of ink can be attached and detached for each color. Each ink cartridge can be mounted. Further, the printer 40 in the present embodiment can use two types of K ink, photo black used for glossy paper and plain paper, and mat black giving priority to image quality on matte paper as K ink.

  In the printer 40, any one of the K inks can be used, and two matte black ink cartridges can be mounted and used instead of the G ink. G ink is an ink containing a black colorant in a solvent. However, since the concentration of the colorant is smaller than that of K ink, the G ink is used to express a highly accurate gradation change. Is possible. The printer 40 can form a large number of colors by combining each ink, thereby forming an image on a print medium.

  Of course, the ink color that can be used in the printer 40 is an example. In addition, dark yellow ink may be used, red ink or violet ink may be used, and glossiness is adjusted. Colorless ink may be made available. Further, the number of colors is not limited to seven, and the combination of colors is not limited to the above combination. The printer 40 in this embodiment is a so-called ink jet printer, and discharges each ink by applying a force to the ink inside a head filled with each ink. At this time, a voltage may be applied to the piezo element to cause the ejection force to act on the ink, or bubbles may be formed in the head to cause the ejection force to act on the ink. Further, the present invention can be applied to various printers such as a laser system in addition to the ink jet system.

  Although the configuration of the computer 10 has been described in a simplified manner, a computer having a general configuration as a personal computer can be employed. Of course, the computer to which the present invention is applied is not limited to a personal computer. Further, the connection interface between the computer 10 and the printer 40 is not limited to the above-described one, and various connection modes such as a parallel interface, a SCSI connection, and a wireless connection can be adopted. It is the same.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the print control apparatus is configured by the computer 10, but the print control process according to the present invention can be implemented by the program execution environment installed in the printer 40, and the printer 40 is directly connected to the printer 40. Image data may be acquired from a digital camera connected to the printer and the print control process may be performed. The UI may be displayed on a small liquid crystal display mounted on the printer 40 or may be displayed on a liquid crystal display mounted on the digital camera. Of course, the print control process may be performed with a digital camera in the same configuration, and various other configurations such as performing the print control process according to the present invention by a distributed process may be employed. The print control processing according to the present invention may be performed in a so-called multi-function machine in which a scanner for capturing an image and a printer for printing an image are integrated.

  In the computer 10 according to the present embodiment, a printer driver (PRTDRV) 21, an input device driver (DRV) 22, and a display driver (DRV) 23 are incorporated in the OS 20. The display DRV 23 is a driver that controls display of image data and the like on the display, and the input device DRV 22 receives a code signal from the keyboard and mouse input via the serial communication I / O 19a and performs a predetermined input operation. It is a driver to accept.

  The APL 25 is an application program that can execute retouching of a color image, and the user can operate the input device for operation under the execution of the APL 25 and cause the printer 40 to print the color image. That is, the image processing unit 25a of the APL 25 reads out the image data 15a recorded on the HDD 15 to the RAM 14 according to a user instruction, and displays an image based on the image data 15a on the display via the display DRV23. When the user operates the input device, the operation content is acquired via the input device DRV 22 and the content is interpreted, and the image processing unit 25a performs various images such as contrast adjustment according to the operation content. Process.

  The image data 15a is dot matrix data in which each color component of RGB (red, green, blue) is expressed in gradation to define the color of each pixel. In the present embodiment, each color has 256 gradations, and the sRGB standard. The image data adopting the color system according to the above. In the present embodiment, the image data 15a will be described as an example, but various data such as JPEG image data using the YCbCr color system and image data using the CMYK color system can be used. Of course, the present invention is applied to data conforming to the Exif 2.2 standard (Exif is a registered trademark of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association), data corresponding to Print Image Matching (PIM: PIM is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation), etc. It can also be applied.

  In the APL 25, it is possible to cause the printer 40 to execute printing on the image after the image processing in the image processing unit 25a, and when printing, a UI that allows the user to set print condition items is displayed. Printing is executed in accordance with an instruction on the UI. For this purpose, the APL 25 includes a UI display control unit 25b and a print execution unit 25c. The UI display control unit 25b outputs data for displaying a UI for setting print condition items to the display DRV23. In addition, data indicating the settable range of print condition items to be displayed on the UI and the dependency relationship between the items is acquired from the UI control module 30.

  The print condition item is an item for a plurality of conditions necessary for executing printing. The print resolution, the ink type (selection of color and monochrome or the selection of ink set (combination of ink colors)), the type of print medium Size, printing layout, borderless printing, print quality (clean, fast, etc.), color management type (automatic adjustments, use of colors beyond the display gamut, etc.), bidirectional printing There are various print condition items that can be set for the PRTDRV 21, such as whether or not image processing is possible by the driver. In the present embodiment, as described above, since the print conditions are set for each item such as the print resolution and the ink type, different print conditions are distinguished as items. Further, the setting contents of each printing condition are specified by a numerical value (setting value) corresponding to the content, and this numerical value is called an item value.

  Further, the UI display control unit 25b displays the above-mentioned UI on the display, acquires the operation input content performed by the user according to this UI via the input device DRV22, and print condition items designated by the operation input. Get item value of. The item value acquired here is held as a temporary setting value. Note that the item value of the printing condition item at the time of the previous printing execution is held in a predetermined storage medium, and this item value is displayed when the UI is displayed. Accordingly, the previous item value is set as it is for the print condition item that is not set by the user.

  The item values that can be set in the printing condition item may depend on the item values of other printing condition items. In this case, the item values that can be set in other printing condition items by setting a certain item value. Range varies. Since the UI display control unit 25b acquires data indicating the settable range and the dependency between items as described above from the UI control module 30, the UI display control unit 25b refers to this data and sets a certain item value to set the range. The UI display is updated for other print condition items that are affected. That is, the settable range on the UI display is changed according to the acquired settable range data.

  In the UI according to the present embodiment, as will be described later, a small number of printing condition items are displayed on one screen, and when input is performed for the item, the screen is switched to display other printing condition items. . Therefore, the selectable range on the UI when the print condition item value for a certain screen is set to advance to the next screen and when the other print condition item value is set to advance to the next screen on a certain screen Can be different. Of course, when there are dependencies among multiple printing condition items displayed on one screen, the setting range of other printing condition items can change depending on the setting of a certain printing condition item. The item value of the condition item is not displayed as an option, but the item value of the print condition item that can be selected is displayed as an option. The same applies to displaying a large number of printing condition items on one screen. If the setting range of other printing condition items changes due to the setting of a certain printing condition item, the item of the printing condition item that cannot be selected. Instead of displaying values as options, selectable item values are displayed as options.

  Further, the UI display control unit 25b displays a UI that can change only the printing condition items necessary for printing by the APL 25 among a great number of printing condition items, and the printing conditions that are not displayed in the UI. For items, default item values held in a predetermined storage medium are used. For example, in the case of APL specialized for postcard printing, it is not necessary to select a printing paper other than the postcard size, and therefore a configuration in which the size of the printing medium as a printing condition item is fixed at the postcard size can be employed. With this configuration, the printing condition items to be displayed on the UI by the APL creator can be determined in advance, and it is possible to provide an easy-to-understand interface for the user without displaying an unnecessarily complicated UI.

  In addition, it is possible to issue a print execution instruction in this UI, and when the UI display control unit 25b detects the print execution instruction based on the operation content on the UI, processing in the print execution unit 25c is started. The The print execution unit 25c causes the PRTDRV 21 to set the item value of each print condition item held as the temporary setting value as described above as the print condition, and transfers the image data to be printed to the PRTDRV 21. The PRTDRV 21 includes a module (not shown) that performs processing such as resolution conversion, color conversion, and halftone processing. Each module performs processing corresponding to the item value of the print condition item on the image data to be printed. Print data is generated. The generated print data is output to the printer 40 via the USB I / O 19b, and the printer 40 executes printing based on the print data.

(1-1) Configuration of UI control module:
The UI control module 30 is responsible for a process of passing data indicating the settable range and dependency of the printing condition item necessary for UI display and the item value of the printing condition item to the UI display control unit 25b. In this embodiment, this module adopts a configuration that can change the display at high speed according to the change of the item value for the printing condition item having complicated dependency. For this purpose, the UI control module 30 includes an item value temporary setting unit 31, an item value acquisition unit 32, an item value settable range acquisition unit 33, a resource DB creation unit 34, and an item value setting unit 35.

  The UI control module 30 sets the item value of each printing condition item selected on the UI as a temporary setting so that the UI display control unit 25b can acquire the settable range and dependency of the printing condition item at high speed. The settable range and the dependency relationship when the temporary setting is made with reference to a previously created database are returned to the UI display control unit 25b.

  Therefore, at least before starting UI control, the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c are recorded in the HDD 15. In the present embodiment, the printer DB 15b is a database describing the dependency relationship between the print condition items, and is recorded in the HDD 15 when the PRTDRV 21 is installed. In the resource DB 15c, the upper item of each print condition item and the print condition item value in each item value of the upper item are recorded. Therefore, when the item value of a certain printing condition item is changed, it is possible to acquire item values that can be taken by the printing condition item having this item as a higher item, and to acquire a settable range. The former is a case where the upper item is a relationship between a certain printing condition item and another printing condition item, and when the item value of a certain printing condition item is determined, the settable range of the item value of the other printing condition item is determined. It is.

  The resource DB creation unit 34 of the UI control module 30 creates a resource DB 15c by referring to the printer DB 15b using the software I / F 27. In other words, the software I / F 27 is configured to exchange data with the PRTDRV 21 so that each item value can be acquired, a settable range can be acquired, and each item value can be set. While setting each item value via F27, a settable range is acquired for the item value having a dependency relationship.

  Although the printing condition has a dependency as described above, the settable range of the specific printing condition item can be acquired in a state where the upper item value of the specific printing condition item is fixed by the software I / F 27. Therefore, if a value is set for the upper item and the operation of acquiring the settable range is repeated for all the item values that can be taken by the upper item, the settable range and dependency relationship for a specific printing condition item can be acquired. it can. Of course, it is not necessary to repeat the operation for the printing condition items having no dependency.

  In this software I / F 27, although a predetermined processing time is required, the settable range can be acquired by the repetitive work. Therefore, data indicating the dependency relationship and the settable range can be created and used as the resource DB 15c. Of course, the settable range is recorded in the resource DB 15c for the print condition items having no dependency.

  In the present embodiment, the resource DB 15c is created when the computer 10 executes printing for the first time specifying the printer 40, and once created, the resource DB 15c is held in the HDD 15. Accordingly, in this embodiment, it can be said that both the resource DB 15c and the printer DB 15b are created in advance when printing is executed. The creation of the resource DB 15c and the contents of each database will be described in detail later.

  When the UI display control unit 25b creates a UI, the item value settable range acquisition unit 33 refers to the resource DB 15c or the printer DB 15b, and displays UI setting data indicating the settable range for the print condition item to be displayed on the UI. The data is transferred to the control unit 25b. The item value acquisition unit 32 acquires the current item value for the print condition item. Accordingly, the UI display control unit 25b can display the above-described settable range as an option for each printing condition item, and can form and display a UI in which the current item value is selected as a default.

  Here, the current item value is the item value at the time when the item value acquisition unit 32 performs processing, and at the time of the previous printing execution via the software I / F 27 in the initial stage of displaying the UI for image printing. Get the item value of the printing condition item at. The previous item value acquired by the item value acquisition unit 32 is transferred to the UI display control unit 25b as the current item value, and is recorded in the RAM 14 as the temporary setting value 14a.

  When the item value is changed on the UI even once after the UI is displayed until printing is performed, the item value acquisition unit 32 does not acquire the item value via the software I / F 27, but the temporary setting value 14a. Is output as a current item value to the UI display control unit 25b. Therefore, when displaying the UI by the UI display control unit 25b, it is not necessary to exchange data with the PRTDRV 21 via the software I / F 27, and the current item value can be acquired at high speed.

  When the change of the item value is accepted by the UI display control unit 25b, the item value temporary setting unit 31 acquires the item value as a temporary setting value, and the temporary setting value is obtained via the software I / F 27 as PRTDRV21. Are recorded in the RAM 14 as the temporary setting value 14a without being set. Therefore, the temporary setting value 14a of the RAM 14 is updated for the item value changed on the UI, and the item value is not updated for the PRTDRV 21 at this stage.

  After the provisional setting value 14a is updated, the item value acquisition unit 32 acquires the provisional setting value 14a. When the item value setting range acquisition unit 33 acquires the setting range, the UI display control unit 25b changes the item value. It is possible to display a UI whose settable range is appropriately changed according to the update. That is, even if the settable range of the item having a dependency relationship changes due to the item value being updated, the item value settable range acquisition unit 33 refers to the resource DB 15c each time to set the appropriate settable range. be able to. The UI display update will be described in detail later.

  The setting of the printing condition item value in the UI is held as the temporary setting value 14a and is not actually set in the PRTDRV 21, but the user determines the item value of the printing condition item by the UI and issues a print execution instruction. Sometimes, the item value setting unit 35 sets an item value via the software I / F 27. The item value setting unit 35 interprets the data format for designating the printing condition in the PRTDRV 21 via the software I / F 27 and causes the PRTDRV 21 to set the item value of each printing condition item according to the data format. Is possible.

  That is, referring to the temporary setting value 14a in the RAM 14, the data in the above format is created so that the item value of each printing condition item is the value indicated by the temporary setting value 14a. When the data is transferred to the software I / F 27, the PRTDRV 21 sets the item value of each print condition item as described in the data. Note that the configuration in which the printing conditions are set with data in a predetermined format via the software I / F 27 is different from each OS in the configuration for specifying the printing conditions. This is a configuration for performing data processing for UI display without being conscious of the difference due to.

  In other words, various OSs generally have a function for setting item values of print condition items for the PRTDRV 21, but the print condition setting method differs for each OS. Therefore, in this embodiment, the UI control module 30 adopts a configuration capable of controlling the UI display at high speed by a method that does not depend on the OS, and when actually executing printing, the item value setting unit 35 sets the printing condition. The printing conditions are set while discriminating the above. As a result, an application producer who provides the APL 25 and the UI at the time of printing designates the item value of the printing condition item by a common method without being aware of the difference of the OS, and a program for controlling the PRTDRV 21 Can be created.

  In the present invention, the resource DB 15c, the item value provisional setting unit 31, the item value acquisition unit 32, and the item value are used in the sense that the settable range is appropriately displayed at high speed and the UI desired by the APL creator is provided. It is only necessary to include the settable range acquisition unit 33, and the configuration that absorbs the difference in the OS by the software I / F 27 is not essential. For example, instead of setting item values for printing condition items via the software I / F 27, the UI control module 30 adopts a configuration in which item values for printing condition items are directly set for each PRTDRV 21. May be.

(2) Printer DB configuration:
Next, the configuration of the printer DB 15b in this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data description example of the printer DB 15b. As shown in the drawing, the printer DB 15b describes data indicating the printer name, driver version, ink set, and dependency. The printer name is data specifying the model name of the printer 40 (in this embodiment, “PM-***”), and the PRTDRV 21 is a driver corresponding to the printer 40. Since the print condition item and the dependency relationship depend on the model, this embodiment describes which model of printer the printer DB 15b is used. This description is made for any printer when a plurality of printers are connected to the computer 10 and a plurality of PRTDRVs corresponding to the respective printers are installed to enable use of any or a combination thereof. This is used to identify whether the printer DB has been used.

  The driver version is data specifying the version of PRTDRV 21 (version 5.3e in this embodiment). A new function is added depending on the version of the printer driver, and the version may change due to a change in the dependency relationship or an error correction. Therefore, in this embodiment, which driver version the printer DB 15b is for It is described. This description is used to identify which driver version the printer DB should be used for when the user of the computer 10 obtains and installs the upgraded PRTDRV 21. As will be described later, even if the resource DB 15c is recorded in the HDD 15, if the resource DB 15c for the driver version described in the printer DB 15b is not recorded in the HDD 15, the resource DB 15c is reconstructed. Even if a new function is added by the change and the dependency is changed, it is possible to cope with the changed dependency.

  The ink set is data for uniquely specifying the combination and type of ink cartridges mounted in the printer 40 (in this embodiment, a pigment-based ink and a CMYKlclmG ink set). Whether or not color management or image processing is possible differs depending on the combination of ink colors to be used, and the above dependency relationship may be changed. In the present embodiment, which ink set the printer DB 15b is used for is described. . This description is used for identifying which ink set is the printer DB to be used when the user of the computer 10 changes the combination of ink colors mounted on the printer 40. As will be described later, even if the resource DB 15c is recorded in the HDD 15, the ink set resource DB 15c described in the printer DB 15b is not recorded in the HDD 15 by changing the ink set from CMYKlclmG to CMYKlclmK. If it is, the resource DB 15c is reconstructed, so that it is possible to cope with the dependency after the ink set change.

  The dependency relationship is defined by listing the printing condition items (target items) for which the dependency relationship is defined and the higher-level items in association with each other. In this embodiment, “target item n, higher-level item” The dependency is defined by sequentially describing data indicating the number m, the upper item n1, and the upper item nm ". Here, n and m are 0 or a natural number, and there are m upper items for each of the n target items, and each upper item is listed. For target items for which no upper item exists, m is set to 0 and no upper item is described. For the target item and the upper item, it is sufficient if the item itself can be specified. For example, when the target item is print quality, the upper item is the type of print medium, and the number of upper items is one, “print quality, 1, "type of print medium".

  In this embodiment, the printer DB 15b is referred to in order to create the resource DB 15c. For this purpose, the printer name, the driver version, the data for specifying the ink set, and the data indicating the dependency are described. However, in this embodiment, the settable range can be described for further convenience. The settable range is shown in the lower part of FIG. 2, and data indicating "target item x, number of upper item items l, upper item x1 and its value, ..., upper item xl and its value, settable range" in order. It has a format to describe.

  That is, it is the same as the dependency format described above to describe the dependency by describing the number of upper items and the upper items for a certain target item x. Specify the target item value when the upper item is the item value. Thereby, it is possible to specify the settable range of the target item when the item value in the upper dependency relationship is a specific value. This format is the same as the format of the settable range described in the resource DB 15c described later. The resource DB 15c is created according to the dependency described in the printer DB 15b. At this time, the settable range may not be appropriately acquired due to an error of the PRTDRV 21. In this case, an appropriate settable range is set. It cannot be described in the resource DB 15c.

  Therefore, an appropriate settable range is described in the printer DB 15b after creating the PRTDRV 21, and when the resource DB creating unit 34 creates the resource DB 15c, the printer DB 15b is first referred to, and the settable range is described in the printer DB 15b. Sometimes the description content of the printer DB 15b is acquired. With such a configuration, even when there is a case where the settable range cannot be appropriately acquired due to an error of the PRTDRV 21 or the like, the appropriate settable range can be easily transmitted to the item value settable range acquisition unit 33. Further, if it takes a very long time to register a settable range for all items in the resource DB 15c, a part of the settable range data can be described in the resource DB 15c. When UI display is performed in such a configuration, the settable range data is acquired with reference to the printer DB 15b because the settable range data is not described in the resource DB 15c.

(3) Configuration of resource DB:
Next, the configuration of the resource DB 15c in this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data description example of the resource DB 15c. As shown in the figure, the resource DB 15c describes data indicating the printer name, driver version, ink set, and settable range. The settable range has a format that sequentially describes data indicating “target item n, number m of upper items, upper item n1 and its value, upper item ml and its value, settable range”.

  Thus, the settable range of the target item when the item value in the upper dependency relationship is a specific value is specified. For example, the target item is the print quality, the upper item is the type of print medium, and the upper item number is If the item value of the print medium type is “2, 3” when the item value of the print medium type is “1”, “print quality, 1, print medium type = 1, 2, 3 ". In this case, the number of items of the upper item is set to “0” for the target item having no dependency, and the settable range is described immediately after the number of items of the upper item without describing the upper item and its value.

  The number of target items to be described in the resource DB 15c can be adjusted in various ways such as already described for X-1 out of the total number X of items. All items existing as print condition items of the PRTDRV 21 may be described, and in order to prevent a very large amount of time being spent on creating the resource DB 15c, the number of items of the upper items is equal to or less than a predetermined number (for example, 4 Only the target items (below) may be described. In addition, the printing condition items that are used less frequently on the UI are grasped in advance, and the items that are used less frequently or the printing condition items that do not appear on the UI (setting is necessary to execute printing. It may be configured not to describe in the resource DB 15c the printing conditions determined by the APL instead of being determined.

  As described above, in the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c, the item value of each printing condition item is designated by a numerical value, and the meaning of each numerical value is determined in advance. For example, the type of print medium = 1 is predetermined as “plain paper”. Therefore, in this specification, specifying the printing condition for each printing condition item is called determining the item value, but of course, in the present invention, it is only necessary to be able to specify the printing condition. It is not essential to specify, and various configurations such as designation by a character string can be adopted.

  In addition, in both the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c, it is only necessary to describe data indicating the above-described various information such as a printer name and target items, and the data description format is not limited to the above-described format. Of course, it is only necessary to indicate various information in the sense of describing data, and the computer 10 may adopt a text format or a binary format, and various configurations can be adopted. .

  FIG. 4 is an example showing the settable range determined as described above together with the dependency relationship. In the figure, A to H indicate printing condition items, and dependency relationships are indicated by arrows. The print condition item located at the tip pointed by the arrow is a lower item, and the print condition item shown at the opposite end is the upper item. For example, the printing condition item A is an upper item of the printing condition items B and D. Note that a relationship in which there is a one-to-one relationship between an upper item and a lower item with respect to a certain item, that is, a dependency relationship such as B and C shown in FIG. 4 is called an independent tree. When there are a plurality of items, that is, items such as the printing condition item F (higher level items D and E) shown in FIG. 4 are called non-independent trees.

  In the printer DB 15b indicating the dependency relationship of each print condition item, it can be described as an independent tree or a non-independent tree, and a complicated dependency relationship can be described in a very simple format. . That is, in the case of the independent tree, for example, the printing condition item B may be shown as the upper item of the printing condition item C. Even in the case of the non-independent tree, for example, the number of upper items of the printing condition item F is two. The print condition items D and E may be indicated as being present.

  Furthermore, in the resource DB 15c indicating the settable range, the settable range of the target item is shown while showing the upper item and the specific item value of the upper item, so that complicated dependency relationships and settings as shown in FIG. The possible range can be described easily. In the figure, for each print condition item, the item value of the upper item and the item value of the target item in the item value are shown. For example, in the printing condition item B, when the item value of the upper item A is “1”, it indicates that the settable range of the item B is “1, 2”, and the item value of the upper item A is “2”. This indicates that the settable range of item B is “3”.

  In the printing condition item F shown in FIG. 4, when the upper item E is “2”, the item F is “1”, the upper item E is “1”, and the upper item D is “1” as shown in FIG. The item F is “2” in the case of the above, and the item F is “1, 2” in other cases. In this way, when the upper item is a specific item value, the item value of the item F has a complicated dependency relationship that depends on the upper item. However, even such dependency relationships can be easily described in a simple format in the resource DB 15c. That is, in the case of E = 2, the value of the upper item and the value of the item F may be described in the resource DB 15c in all cases including the case of E = 1 and D = 1.

  The same applies even if the dependency relationship becomes more complicated as in the printing condition item G. In the printing condition item G, if the upper item F is “1, 2” and can be switched, G is “1,2”. When “2”, the condition is that the item G is “1”. That is, the item G depends on the condition whether the item F can be switched and the item value of the item F. The condition of whether or not the item F can be switched cannot be defined only by the dependency relationship between the item F and the item G. A possible range can be defined.

  Accordingly, in this case, the items D, E, and F are the upper items of the item G, and the item F, as described above, is described by defining the settable range of the item G after defining the item values of the items D, E, and F. It is possible to define complicated conditions including whether or not to switch. Specifically, as shown in the lower right of FIG. 4, “impossible to switch” means that the setting range of the item F is not arbitrary and the item value is only “1” or “2”. The item F is only “1” when E = 2 as described above. Therefore, in this case, the upper items of the item G are the items E, D, and F, the item value of the item E is “2”, the item value of the item D is “1, 2”, and the item value of the item F is “1”. And the settable range of the item G is described in the resource DB 15c as “2”.

  When the item F is only “2”, the upper items of the item G are the items E, D, and F, the respective item values are “1”, “1”, and “2”. Is described in the resource DB 15c as “1”. When switching is possible, it is only necessary to list data in which the item G settable range is “1, 2” with the item values of the above-mentioned upper items D, E, and F as values other than the above example. As described above, in the present embodiment, the resource DB 15c adopts the format for describing the upper items and their values, so that even the complicated dependency relationship can be easily described and the resource DB 15c can be created.

(4) Print control process and UI display example:
Next, print control processing and UI display examples in the above configuration will be described. The print control process is performed according to the flow shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 shows an example of the UI displayed at this time. The user can issue a print instruction for an image to be retouched during execution of the APL 25, and when the image processing unit 25a receives the print instruction (step S100), the UI display control unit 25b is connected to the UI control module 30. The UI display is controlled in cooperation. At this time, the resource DB creation unit 34 acquires the printer name of the printer used for printing according to the instruction (step S105). Further, the version of the PRTDRV 21 that controls the printer and the ink set are also acquired.

  As a printer name, the model name of a printer set as a printer that is normally used by the OS 20 may be acquired. Of course, when a user designates a specific printer in a print instruction, the model name is acquired. . The PRTDRV21 version and ink set may be inquired of the PRTDRV21, and the PRTDRV21 may return its own version and the installed ink set, or may communicate with the printer 40 to indicate information indicating the ink set. A configuration to acquire may be adopted, or information indicating a version may be recorded in a predetermined storage medium in advance when PRTDRV21 is installed or upgraded, and a configuration that refers to this information may be adopted. Can be adopted.

  In any case, after acquiring information indicating the printer name to be used, the driver version, and the ink set, the resource DB creation unit 34 refers to the HDD 15 in step S110 to refer to the printer name, driver version, and ink set resource. It is determined whether the DB 15c is already constructed and recorded in the HDD 15. If it is not determined in step S110 that the resource DB 15c has already been constructed, the resource DB creation unit 34 refers to the printer DB 15b corresponding to the printer name, driver version, and ink set in step S115 to construct the resource DB 15c. To execute the process.

  If it is determined in step S110 that the resource DB 15c has already been constructed, step S115 is skipped. That is, when the printer 40 is connected to the computer 10 and printing is performed for the first time after the PRTDRV 21 is installed, when the printing is performed for the first time after changing the version of the PRTDRV 21 due to the version upgrade of the PRTDRV 21 or the like, The resource DB 15c is constructed when printing is executed for the first time after changing the combination of.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, there is one connected printer 40 and only one type of PRTDRV 21 is installed. Therefore, when printing is performed for the first time after PRTDRV 21 is installed, upgraded, or ink set is changed. The resource DB 15c is constructed. Since it takes a certain amount of time to construct the resource DB 15c, it is preferable to adopt a configuration that indicates to the user that processing is being performed by displaying a progress bar on the display. In the second and subsequent printing after installing, upgrading, or changing the ink set of PRTDRV 21, the processing proceeds without constructing the resource DB 15c.

  Since the printer DB 15b is recorded in the HDD 15 when the PRTDRV 21 is installed as described above, the processing from step S120 onward is executed in a state where the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c are recorded in the HDD 15. In the processing after step S120, since the UI display control unit 25b displays a predetermined UI, a settable range is acquired for each printing condition item to be displayed on the UI. First, in step S120, the item value settable range acquisition unit 33 searches the resource DB 15c and the printer DB 15b in this order. In step S125, it is determined whether or not a UI display target print condition item is described as the target item. .

  If it is not determined in step S125 that the print condition item to be displayed on the UI is described as the target item, the resource DB creation unit 34 can actually set and set the item value for the PRTDRV 21 in step S130. Get the range. That is, with reference to the printer DB 15b, it is determined whether or not there is a higher-order item for the UI display target print condition item. Is set, and the settable range that can be taken by the printing condition item to be displayed on the UI in the state where the item value of the upper item is set in this way is acquired.

  At this time, the item value of the upper item is sequentially set for all of the item values that can be taken by the upper item, and the settable range of the print condition item to be displayed on the UI is acquired for each item value of the upper item. When there is no upper item for the printing condition item to be displayed on the UI, the setting range of the printing condition item can be set via the software I / F 27 without setting item values other than the printing condition item to be displayed on the UI. To get. The acquired settable range is described in the resource DB 15c. Therefore, even if it is determined that the printing condition item to be displayed on the UI is not described in the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c, it is not determined that it is not described at the next printing.

  This step S130 is a process that takes a certain amount of time because the process of acquiring the settable range is performed after the item value is actually set for the PRTDRV 21. However, the situation in which the print condition item to be displayed on the UI is not described in the resource DB 15c may occur because of a specific reason such as preventing the creation of the resource DB 15c as described above. Most of the items necessary for implementing UI display are described in advance in the resource DB 15c. Therefore, in practice, step S130 is rarely performed.

  In step S135, the item value settable range acquisition unit 33 sets the printing condition item detected in step S120 as described in the resource DB 15c and printer DB 15b, or the printing condition item described in the resource DB 15c in step S130. Get the possible range. In step S140, the item value acquisition unit 32 refers to the temporary setting value 14a of the RAM 14 or acquires the current item value via the software I / F 27.

  That is, if it is the first processing in the loop processing after step S120, the item value of the printing condition item at the time of the previous printing execution is acquired via the software I / F 27 and transferred to the UI display control unit 25b as the current item value. . At this time, the current item value is recorded in the RAM 14 as the temporary setting value 14a. In the loop processing after step S120, if it is the second or later processing, the temporary setting value 14a is referred to and transferred to the UI display control unit 25b as the current item value.

  In step S145, the settable range acquired in step S135 is set as a selectable option, and the UI is displayed in a state where the temporary setting value acquired in step S140 is temporarily set. Further, in step S150, it is determined whether or not the UI display control unit 25b has accepted the change of the item value. When it is determined that the change of the item value is accepted, the temporary item value setting unit 31 in step S155 The item value is acquired as a temporary setting value, the temporary setting value 14a in the RAM 14 is updated, and the processes in and after step S120 are repeated.

  In this iterative process, even if the dependency of the printing condition item to be displayed on the UI changes due to the change of the item value in step S155, an appropriate settable range is acquired by the process in step S135. In the UI display in step S140, The UI can be updated without displaying selectable print condition items in a selectable manner. Further, when the current item value is acquired in step S140 in the repetitive processing, the item value is not set for the PRTDRV 21 via the software I / F 27. Therefore, when the item value is changed on the UI even once after the UI is displayed until printing is performed, the UI display can be switched at high speed.

  In the UI according to the present embodiment, only a part of all print condition items that prompt the user to select is displayed on one screen, and the screen is sequentially switched while inputting a small number of print condition items on one screen, and finally A print execution instruction is accepted. In step S160, it is determined whether the UI display control unit 25b has received a screen switching instruction. If it is determined that the screen switching instruction has been received, the UI screen is switched in step S165. Then, step S120 and subsequent steps are repeated in order to appropriately display the printing condition items to be displayed on the UI after switching.

  If it is not determined in step S160 that a screen switching instruction has been received, it is determined in step S170 whether the UI display control unit 25b has received a print execution instruction. If it is determined that the print execution instruction has been received, the print execution unit 25c outputs the image data to be printed to the PRTDRV 21 and sets the print conditions for the item value temporary setting unit 31 in step S175. Give instructions. Also, the item value temporary setting unit 31 accesses the software I / F 27 and sets the print condition item value recorded in the temporary setting value 14 a for the PRTDRV 21. As a result, the PRTDRV 21 performs image processing on the image data according to the printing conditions, creates print data for executing printing according to the printing conditions, outputs the print data to the printer 40, and executes printing.

  FIG. 6 shows how the UI screen is switched in the present embodiment. In the UI according to the present embodiment, only a part of all print condition items that prompt the user to select is displayed on one screen, and the screen is sequentially switched while inputting a small number of print condition items on one screen, and finally A print execution instruction is accepted. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the UI for selecting the layout of the print medium is shown as UI1. In the UI 1, a frame 1a for selecting a print medium size as a print condition item is displayed on the left side, and a frame 1b for selecting a layout as a print condition item is displayed on the right side. In addition, UI0 in FIG. 6 is a UI for selecting whether or not to perform borderless printing (printing without providing margins on the four sides of the medium).

  In each UI, each print condition item is designated by clicking a radio button or icon. The “Return” button at the bottom right of the screen returns to the previous UI screen, and the “Next” button The process proceeds to the next UI screen. In the last UI, a print execution instruction can be executed by a print execution instruction button. In this example, the layout defines the image arrangement on the print medium, and the print medium size is an upper item of the layout. In the printer 40, the size of a print medium that can perform borderless printing is limited. In this sense, whether or not borderless printing is possible is an upper item of the print medium. In the example of FIG. 6, the printer 40 can execute printing with postcards, L plates, 2L plates, and A3 to A6 printing medium sizes, and among these, postcards, L plates, 2L plates, A3 and A4 printing Borderless printing can be performed at media size.

  Therefore, when UI0 displays the bordered and borderless as the settable range and proceeds to the next UI1 while selecting the borderless as the item value, the postcard is selected as the selectable range in the frame 1a, L version, 2L version, A3 , A4 is displayed. When the UI0 advances to the next UI1 while selecting “With border” as the item value, the frame 1a is displayed as a selectable range postcard, L version, 2L version, A3 to A6. Further, when the print medium size is selected in the frame 1a of the UI1, the layout is automatically updated in the frame 1b, and only layouts that can be printed with the selected print medium size are presented as the settable range. Is done.

  As described above, in the UI according to the present embodiment, the APL 25 producer simply selects a desired printing condition item and sets it as a UI display target. 30 can be obtained, and only appropriate display can be performed, and display can be performed easily and at high speed, and UI display with high optionality of a display target can be performed.

  In the UI according to the present embodiment, since there is a dependency relationship between printing condition items, it is preferable to adopt a configuration in which screens are sequentially switched so as to select from the higher printing condition items. Further, if there are a plurality of upper items of a certain item, these upper items are preferably selected on the same UI screen. Furthermore, a UI that displays a large number of printing condition items on one screen may be configured. When the settable range of other printing condition items changes due to the setting of a certain printing condition item, the item value that cannot be selected Are displayed as choices, and selectable item values are displayed as choices. Of course, various UI configurations are possible, and a configuration in which item values that cannot be selected are grayed out may be employed.

(5) Resource DB construction processing:
Next, the resource DB 15c construction process shown in step S115 will be described. FIGS. 7 to 9 are flowcharts showing this construction process, and FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a process example when constructing the dependency resource DB 15c shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 to 9 will be described along the example shown in FIG. In the construction process of the resource DB 15c, the RAM 14 is used as a work area, and the process is performed while buffering data indicating a list of printing condition items. The resource DB 15c is switched while switching the list as appropriate according to the purpose of the buffering and the loop. create.

  If it is not determined in step S110 of FIG. 5 that the resource DB 15c has already been constructed, the resource DB creation unit 34 executes the process of step S115 and starts the steps after step S200 of FIG. In step S200, first, data indicating the printer name, driver version, and ink set acquired in step S105 is registered in the resource DB 15c. In step S205, all items described in the printer DB 15b are registered in the list L1n. The list L1n is a list for registering unconfirmed items whose settable ranges are unconfirmed. Also, the number n is a natural number and the initial value is “1”. Different lists are buffered according to the number n and are used depending on the loop stage.

  In step S210, an item (independent item) that does not have an upper item and a lower item in the list L1n is extracted, and in step S215, the settable range of the independent item is inquired to the PRTDRV 21 via the software I / F 27. The acquired settable range is registered in the resource DB 15c. In the example shown in FIG. 4, since the print condition item H does not have an upper item and a lower item, the settable range (“1, 2, 3” in FIG. 4) is acquired and registered in the resource DB 15c.

  Since the independent items registered in the resource DB 15c as described above are no longer unconfirmed items, they are deleted from the list L1n in step S220. In step S225 and subsequent steps, the item value is determined from the upper item for the item having the dependency, and the process proceeds so as to obtain the settable range of the lower item when the upper item is the item value. For this reason, in step S225, an item N is extracted from the list L1n, and in step S230, the printer DB 15b is referred to, and an upper item of the item N is extracted.

  In step S235, it is determined whether or not all of the extracted upper items are confirmed (determined as unconfirmed if the upper item of item N is present in the list L1n), and it must be determined that all of the extracted upper items are confirmed. For example, the item N is changed in step S240, and the processes in and after step S230 are repeated. That is, by this loop, the processing is advanced with the highest item having no upper item as item N. In FIG. 10, examples of lists buffered in step S <b> 220 and subsequent steps with respect to the dependency relationship illustrated in FIG. 4 are arranged in time series from top to bottom. At this stage, the number n is an initial value, the list L1n is the list L11, and the list L11 = ABCDEFG as shown in FIG. In addition, (a) shows an example in which item A is extracted as item N.

  If it is determined in step S235 that all the upper items are determined, the settable range data of item N is searched in the order of printer DB 15b and resource DB 15c in step S245, and the settable range of item N is searched in step S250. It is determined whether data exists in the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c. When it is determined in step S250 that the settable range data of item N exists, step S255 is skipped, and in step S260, the settable range data is registered in the resource DB 15c.

  If it is not determined in step S250 that settable range data for item N exists, the item value of the upper item is set in PRTDRV21 via software I / F 27 in step S255, and the settable range for item N is acquired. In step S260, the settable range data is registered in the resource DB 15c. The reason why the printer DB 15b is prioritized in step S245 is that the settable range may not be appropriately acquired from the PRTDRV 21 due to an error or the like as described above. First, the printer DB 15b is searched.

  Next, the resource DB 15c is searched in order to prevent duplicate settings for the PRTDRV 21. If the settable range data already exists in the resource DB 15c, the settable range is acquired from the resource DB 15c without setting the PRTDRV21. To do. That is, in the processing in the present embodiment, the item value is determined for the upper item, and the process of acquiring the settable range for the lower item is sequentially performed from the upper level to the lower level. Even if the item values of the hierarchy (referred to as hierarchy M) are different, if the item value of the hierarchy (hierarchy M + 1) one level higher than item N is a common value, the settable range of item N is the same. .

  Accordingly, there is a case where the settable range data already described for the settable range of the item N is detected in the process of step S245, and in this case, step S255 is skipped. In this way, if the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c are searched first, there is no need to set the PRTDRV 21 when the settable range data is found by the search, and the settable range is acquired only by referring to the HDD 15. Can do. Therefore, the settable range can be acquired at a higher speed than when the upper item is set for the PRTDRV 21 via the software I / F 27 and the settable range of the lower item is acquired.

  In the process of the item value N = A shown in FIG. 10A, since the settable range of the item A is not stored in the resource DB 15c at the beginning of the process, the process of steps S245 and S250 is performed. The settable range data (A = 1, 2) is acquired via PRTDRV21. In this example, since item A has no upper item, the settable range data of item A can be acquired without setting the upper item in step S255.

  In step S265, the printer DB is referred to, items lower than the item N are extracted and registered in the list L2n. That is, the list L2n is a list in which lower items depending on the item N are listed. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 10A, all of the lower items except the item E that does not depend on the item N = A are registered in the list L2n with the number n = 1, and the list L21 = BCDFG. After the process in step S265, it is determined in step S300 in FIG. 8 whether or not the settable range is confirmed for all items in the list L2n.

  If it is determined in step S300 that the settable range is confirmed for all items in the list L2n, the item N is deleted from the list L1n in step S305, and the processing from step S270 onward in FIG. 7 is performed. If it is not determined in step S300 that the settable range is confirmed for all items in the list L2n, the list L1n is copied to the list L3n in step S310, and the item N is deleted from the list L3n. That is, since the items in the list L2n are subordinate items of the item N, when it is determined in step S300 that these subordinate items are confirmed, the item N and its subordinate items are confirmed, so the unconfirmed item list The item N is deleted from L1n, and the process is further performed for the remaining unconfirmed items.

  If it is not determined in step S300 that the subordinate item of item N is confirmed, in order to confirm the subordinate item, item N is excluded from the unconfirmed items to form list L3n, and the process proceeds. In this sense, the list L3n is a list for registering a part of unconfirmed items. The list L3n is a list for temporarily registering a part of unconfirmed items to be processed in each loop. In the example shown in FIG. 10A, since the item BCDFG in the list L21 is not fixed, L31 = BCDEFG is set in step S310 after the determination in step S300.

  In step S315, it is determined whether each item in the list L2n is the above-described independent tree. If it is determined in step S315 that each item in the list L2n is an independent tree, the list L3n is replaced with the list L2n in step S320. That is, the subordinate item of the independent tree is registered in the list L3n as a processing target in the loop. If it is not determined in step S315 that each item in the list L2n is an independent tree, step S320 is skipped. In the example shown in FIG. 10A, step S320 is skipped.

  In step S325, the item value of item N is temporarily set. That is, the item value of item N is provisionally set to a specific value in order to determine the settable range of the lower item with item N set to a specific value. When step S325 is executed again for the same item N, the provisionally set item value is set to a value different from the previous process. In step S330, the number n is incremented and the list L3 (n-1) is copied to the list L1n. That is, the unconfirmed item in the loop at the previous number (n-1) is copied to the unconfirmed item.

  Then, in step S270, it is determined whether or not an item exists in the list L1n. When there is an item, an unconfirmed item exists, and therefore, the processing from step S225 is repeated. If it is not determined in step S270 that an item is present in the list L1n, the processing after step S400 shown in FIG. 9 is executed. The example shown in FIG. 10B shows an example in which item N = A and A = 1 is temporarily set in step S325. Since the number n is “2” in step S330 and thereafter, the list L12 = BCDEFG.

  In the example shown in the figure, list L12 = BCDEFG, and since an item exists in list L12 in step S270, a new item N is set in step S225. In FIG. 10B, the new item N is the item B, and the settable ranges of the upper item A of the item B are all determined, so that the processing of steps S245 to S255 is performed through the determination of step S235. . At this time, since the settable range of the item B is not registered in the printer DB 15b and the resource DB 15c, the temporarily set item A = 1 is set in the PRTDRV 21 in step S255, and the settable range B of the item B = 1 , 2 is acquired. As a result, in step S260, when A = 1 as the settable range data of item B, B = 1, 2 are registered in the resource DB 15c.

  Further, the processing is continued. In step S265, list L22 = C is set, in step S310, list L32 = CDEFG is set, and in step S320, list L32 = C is set. In step S325, in order to perform processing on the subordinate item C of item B, item B = 1 is temporarily set, and list L13 = C is set in step S330. Further, when returning to step S270, since item C exists in the list L13, the processing after step S225 is repeated, and processing is performed for item N = C (FIG. 10 (c)). In the processing of steps S245 to S260, when B = 1 as the settable data of item C, C = 1, 2 are registered in the resource DB 15c.

  Further, since there is no lower order than item N = C in step S265, it is determined that L23 is empty, and that all items of L23 are empty in step S300, and the list L13 is determined in step S305. Is made empty and the determination in step S270 is performed. At this time, since the list L13 is empty, the process of step S400 in FIG. 9 is performed. In step S400, it is determined whether or not all item values have been set for the upper item of item N. If it is not determined that all item values have been set for the upper item of item N, the number n is determined in step S402. Is decremented, and the processes in and after step S325 are repeated. When it is determined in step S400 that all item values have been set for the upper item of item N, the number n is decremented in step S403, and the processing from step S405 is executed.

  In the example shown in FIG. 10, since item value 2 is not set for the upper item B of item N = C, item value 2 is set for item B in the process of step S325 (FIG. 10 (d)). In step S330, the list L32 is copied to the list L13 so that the list L13 = C. Thereafter, in steps S270 and S225 to step S260, the same processing as described above is performed, and when B = 2 as settable data of item C, C = 2, 3, and 4 are registered in the resource DB 15c. As a result, the settable range is determined for items B and C.

  Even in steps S265 to S305 and S270 in this case, the determination is performed in the same manner as in the case of B = 1. However, in step S400, since it is determined that all item values have been set for the upper B of the item C, the steps after step S403 are performed. Perform the process. In step S405, the upper item of item N is deleted from list L1n, and in step S410, the item of list L3n is deleted from list L1n. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the upper item B of the item C is deleted from the list L12 in step S405. As a result, the list L12 = CDEFG. Further, in step S410, the items in the list L32 are deleted from the list L12. As a result, the list L12 = DEFG is obtained (FIG. 10 (e)).

  In step S420, it is determined whether or not registration of the settable range data has been completed for all items described in the printer DB 15b, and the processes in and after step S270 are repeated until it is determined that the registration has been completed. In the example shown in FIG. 10E, since these items are undefined at the stage of the list L12 = DEFG, the processes after step S270 are repeated with the number n = 2. FIG. 10 (e) shows an example in which item N = D in step S225 when the number n = 2 and the list L12 = DEFG. In this case, as described above, the processing similar to the processing determined as item B = 1, 2 when item A = 1 is performed, and in step S260, when A = 1 as the settable range data of item D, D = 1 , 2 are registered in the resource DB 15c.

  Then, the list L22 = FG is set in step S265, and the list L31 = EFG is set in step S310 after the determination in step S300. Since the FG in the list L22 is not an independent tree, step S320 is skipped after the determination in step S315, and the item D = 1 is temporarily set in step S325, and the processing after step S330 is continued. Thereafter, according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, first, the settable range data of the item E is registered with the item D = 1 as shown in FIG. 10 (f), and the item D as shown in FIG. 10 (g). = 1, E = 1, and the settable range data of item F is registered. Further, as shown in FIG. 10 (h), the settable range data of item G is set as items D = 1, E = 1, F = 2. register.

  If the settable range data is registered for the item G in this case, the items D = 1 and E = 2 are further set, and the settable range data for the items F and G is registered. That is, by performing processing according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, item values are sequentially set from the upper items, and the lower items are gradually set while registering the settable range data with the item values. As a result, it is possible to perform processing for setting upper item values for all cases having dependency relationships and registering settable range data for lower items. Therefore, settable range data between items having complicated dependency relationships such as the print condition items F and G as shown in FIG. 4 can be easily defined, and the resource DB 15c can be created.

(6) Other embodiments:
In the present invention, it is only necessary that the user can set the driving condition while displaying the UI within the settable range by referring to the dependency relationship and the settable range of the driving condition of the peripheral device. Also, various configurations can be adopted. For example, in the above-described embodiment, a configuration has been adopted in which the resource DB 15c is created by referring to the printer DB 15b recorded in the HDD 15 before the computer 10 sets the printing conditions at least in the UI. The resource DB 15 c may be created by a computer other than the computer 10 and recorded in the HDD 15.

  That is, the printer manufacturer that provides the printer 40 creates the resource DB 15c in advance, provides the medium of the PRTDRV 21 program and the data of the resource DB 15c to the user of the computer 10, and records the resource DB 15c in the HDD 15 when the PRTDRV 21 is installed. A configuration may be adopted. According to this configuration, since it is not necessary to provide the printer DB 15b in order to create the resource DB 15c in the computer 10, the data capacity required for the HDD 15 can be suppressed. Further, since it is not necessary to create the resource DB 15c when the user is operating the computer 10, no time is required for creation, and the user is not allowed to wait from the first UI display.

  On the other hand, in the above configuration in which the resource DB 15c is created by referring to the printer DB 15b recorded in the HDD 15, the resource DB 15c can be easily reconstructed when the driver version or ink set is changed as described above. Can be easily accommodated. Even if the settable range cannot be appropriately acquired from the PRTDRV 21 due to an error or the like as described above, the corrected settable range data can be recorded in the printer DB 15b after the error is corrected. Even if it occurs, it can be easily corrected.

  Further, registering the settable range data in the resource DB 15c is not limited to the time of construction in step S115 and the learning of the settable range in step S130. For example, even if predetermined settable range data is registered after printing is performed. good. In other words, when the data is used when previewing on the UI, such as setting a print area, an accurate value is not required. When setting, the settable range may be acquired and registered in the resource DB 15c. According to such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the setting for the PRTDRV 21 at the time of UI display and to perform the UI display processing at high speed, and once the settable range data is registered in the resource DB 15c, Accurate values can be used at high speed.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, one printer 40 is connected to the computer 10, but it goes without saying that the present invention is applied in a situation where a plurality of printers are connected and a plurality of PRTDRVs are installed. Is also possible. That is, data indicating each printer is described at the head of the printer DB 15b or resource DB 15c, and the printer is identified by this data. Therefore, when the first printing is executed by each printer, the resource DB 15c is not registered, and the resource DB 15c can be created by referring to the printer DB 15b created for the printer. As a result, referring to the printer DB 15b and resource DB 15c created for each printer, it is possible to display a UI corresponding to the settable range of the print condition item for each printer.

  Further, the creation flowchart of the resource DB 15c is an example, and it is only necessary to determine the value of the upper item and acquire the settable range of the lower item sequentially from the upper level to the lower level. The flow can be adopted. It is not essential to use each of the above-described lists, and the processing may be performed while performing buffering by various methods. Further, when the current item value is acquired in step S140 of FIG. 5 above, the configuration in which the item value is inquired to the PRTDRV 21 via the software I / F 27 in the initial loop processing is adopted. After the completion, the temporary setting value 14a is retained by transferring it to the nonvolatile memory as necessary, and if the temporary setting value is referred to in the initial loop processing, the PRTDRV 21 is not inquired. Can do.

  Furthermore, if the character string corresponding to the item value is recorded together with the item value as the settable range of the print condition item in the resource DB 15c as described above, the item value is displayed when the settable range is displayed on the UI. Can be clearly indicated by characters, and a user-friendly UI can be provided.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a printer as a peripheral device connected to a computer. However, it goes without saying that the present invention is applied to all peripheral devices whose driving conditions can be set by a UI. Can do. For example, the present invention can be applied to a display, a projector, a scanner, a digital camera, a hard disk drive, and the like. In the present invention, since an appropriate settable range is specified by the settable range data for complicatedly dependent drive conditions, the present invention is applied to peripheral devices that have many drive conditions and have many dependency relationships. It is preferable to do this. In this sense, a scanner or the like is a suitable application example, and a multifunction machine in which a scanner, a printer, a copy, and a fax are configured in one machine is also a suitable application example.

  Further, the printer DB may be created in advance and recorded in the HDD 15. However, when creating the printer DB for different printer models, it is efficient if the common dependency data is created in advance for each model. It is possible to create a printer DB. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation for efficiently creating a printer DB. The left side of the figure shows data (pattern file) that lists the dependency relationships even when the printer models are different even if the dependency relationships are common.

  When creating the printer DB efficiently, this pattern file is created in advance. In the example shown in FIG. 11, a case is shown where target items 2 to n for which the dependency relationship is defined are common dependency relationship data for the printer names PM-4000 and PM-3000. Since the target item 2 to the target item n are common to the printer names PM-4000 and PM-3000, data indicating dependency relations for these target items is described in advance in the pattern file.

  When creating the printer DBs 150b and 151b for the printer names PM-4000 and PM-3000, the pattern file is referred to and the contents are copied to the printer DBs 150b and 151b. This figure shows a case where the dependency relationship of the target item 1 is different for each printer model. At this time, the dependency relationship for each printer model is written in each of the printer DBs 150b and 151b. Data indicating the printer name, driver version, and ink set is also written in the printer DBs 150b and 151b in accordance with the format of the printer DB.

  As described above, even if there are a large number of target items (n in the figure), when creating each printer DB 150b, 151b by referring to the pattern file, data for very few items is stored. You only need to create it, and you can work very efficiently. This efficiency increases as the number of printer models increases, so this advantage is significant for manufacturers that produce many models. The above processing is preferably realized by a computer having a pattern file recorded on a predetermined storage medium. In other words, in the computer that recorded the pattern file, when inputting the data indicating the minimum required item dependency, printer name, driver version, and ink set, the computer's arithmetic processing unit adds the recorded contents in the pattern file. It is preferable that the printer DB is output. As a result, the printer DB can be created by a very simple operation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a print control apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of data description of printer DB. It is a figure which shows the example of data description of resource DB. It is a figure which shows the setting possible range with a dependency. It is a flowchart of a printing control process. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of UI. It is a flowchart which shows the construction process of resource DB. It is a flowchart which shows the construction process of resource DB. It is a flowchart which shows the construction process of resource DB. It is explanatory drawing explaining the example of a process at the time of constructing | assembling resource DB. It is explanatory drawing explaining the example of a process at the time of creating printer DB.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Computer, 14 ... RAM, 14a ... Temporary setting value, 15 ... HDD, 15a ... Image data, 15b ... Printer DB, 15c ... Resource DB, 20 ... OS, 21 ... PRTDRV, 22 ... Input device DRV, 23 ... Display DRV, 25 ... APL, 25a ... Image processing unit, 25b ... UI display control unit, 25c ... Print execution unit, 30 ... UI control module, 31 ... Temporary value setting unit, 32 ... Item value acquisition unit, 33 ... Item value Settable range acquisition unit, 34 ... resource DB creation unit, 35 ... item value setting unit, 40 ... printer

Claims (14)

A drive condition acquisition device for extracting a settable range of drive conditions of a peripheral device connected to a computer,
Driving condition setting means capable of setting a driving condition for the peripheral device and obtaining a settable range of other driving conditions in this setting;
Dependency data storage means for storing dependency data indicating the dependency between the drive conditions;
A specific drive condition is set to a specific set value by the drive condition setting means, and a settable range of other drive conditions that depend on the specific drive condition is obtained by referring to the dependency relationship data and can be set A drive condition acquisition apparatus comprising: settable range acquisition means for storing settable range data indicating a range in a predetermined storage medium. The dependency relationship of the driving conditions forms a hierarchical structure, and the settable range acquisition means sets the upper driving condition in the hierarchical structure as the specific driving condition and sets the lower driving condition as the other driving condition. The drive condition acquisition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the process of acquiring the possible range is sequentially performed toward a lower hierarchy. The dependency relationship data is stored in a predetermined storage medium as a single file, and the settable range data can be described in the file, and the settable range acquisition means specifies the specific drive condition. Before setting the set value, search the file, and when the settable range data for the other driving conditions is described, refer to the settable range data described to obtain the settable range. The drive condition acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the drive condition acquisition apparatus is characterized. The settable range acquisition means refers to the stored settable range data before setting the specific drive condition to a specific set value, and when the settable range data of the other drive condition is described 4. The drive condition acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the settable range is acquired with reference to the settable range data described. The settable range acquisition means acquires the settable range for X-1 drive conditions and stores the settable range data when the drive conditions are X (X is a natural number). The drive condition acquisition apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The drive condition dependency relationship forms a hierarchical structure, and the settable range acquisition means acquires the settable range and stores the settable range data for drive conditions that depend on a predetermined number of upper layers or less. The drive condition acquisition apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein A file in which data indicating the dependency of the drive conditions that are common to multiple models of peripheral devices is created in advance. When creating the dependency data, describe it in this file. The drive condition acquisition apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the dependency data is referred to as a part of the dependency relationship data. The settable range data is referred to when determining a settable range for each drive condition by displaying a UI for setting the drive condition on a predetermined output device in the computer, and the peripheral device for which the drive condition is set When displaying the UI for the first time on the computer, when displaying the UI for the first time after the drive condition setting means is updated, and when displaying the UI for the first time after replacing the components of the peripheral device 8. The settable range acquisition unit performs acquisition of a settable range and storage of settable range data when any or a combination occurs. Drive condition acquisition device. A drive condition acquisition method for extracting a settable range of drive conditions for peripheral devices connected to a computer,
In the peripheral device controller that drives the peripheral device by setting the drive condition for the peripheral device, the drive condition can be set and the settable range of other drive conditions in this setting can be acquired.
Dependency data indicating the dependency between the driving conditions is stored in a predetermined storage medium,
The peripheral device control unit sets a specific drive condition to a specific set value, refers to the dependency relationship, acquires a settable range of another drive condition that depends on the specific drive condition, and the settable range A drive condition acquisition method characterized by storing settable range data indicating the above in a predetermined storage medium. A drive condition acquisition program for extracting a settable range of drive conditions of peripheral devices connected to a computer,
A drive condition setting function for setting a drive condition for the peripheral device and acquiring a settable range of other drive conditions in this setting;
A dependency relationship data storage function for storing dependency relationship data indicating a dependency relationship between the drive conditions in a predetermined storage medium;
A specific drive condition is set to a specific set value by the drive condition setting function, a settable range of another drive condition that depends on the specific drive condition is acquired with reference to the dependency relationship, and the settable range A drive condition acquisition program for causing a computer to implement a settable range acquisition function for storing settable range data indicating the above in a predetermined storage medium. A printing control apparatus that sets printing conditions of a printing apparatus connected to a computer through a UI and controls the printing apparatus according to printing conditions set in the UI.
A printing condition setting means for setting a printing condition for the printing apparatus and acquiring a settable range of another printing condition in the setting;
Dependency data storage means for storing dependency data indicating the dependency between the printing conditions;
The print condition setting means sets a specific print condition to a specific set value, obtains a settable range of other print conditions depending on the specific print condition with reference to the dependency relationship, and the settable range Settable range acquisition means for storing settable range data indicating a predetermined storage medium;
The settable range of the print condition is acquired by referring to the settable range data, and an option for setting the print condition in the settable range is displayed on a predetermined output device and the set value of the print condition is set. Printing condition input / output means for receiving input;
The settable range of the print condition depending on the print condition changed by the input of the set value is acquired with reference to the settable range data, and the settable range of the dependent print condition is set for a predetermined output device. Printing condition update means for displaying;
A print execution instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to execute printing under the print conditions with the received set value;
A printing control apparatus, comprising: a printing control unit that drives the printing apparatus under printing conditions with the received set value in accordance with an instruction to execute the printing, and prints an image. A printing control method for setting printing conditions of a printing apparatus connected to a computer through a UI and controlling the printing apparatus according to the printing conditions set in the UI,
In the printing apparatus control unit that drives the printing apparatus by setting printing conditions for the printing apparatus, it is possible to set the printing conditions and obtain a settable range of other printing conditions in this setting.
Dependency data indicating the dependency between the printing conditions is stored in a predetermined storage medium,
The printing apparatus control unit sets a specific print condition to a specific set value, refers to the dependency relationship, acquires a settable range of other print conditions depending on the specific print condition, and the settable range Is stored in a predetermined storage medium.
The settable range of the print condition is acquired by referring to the settable range data, and an option for setting the print condition in the settable range is displayed on a predetermined output device and the set value of the print condition is set. Accept input,
The settable range of the print condition depending on the print condition changed by the input of the set value is acquired with reference to the settable range data, and the settable range of the dependent print condition is set for a predetermined output device. Display
Accepts an instruction to execute printing under the printing conditions with the received setting value,
A printing control method, wherein an image is printed by driving a printing apparatus under printing conditions with the received set value in accordance with an instruction to execute the printing. A printing control program for setting printing conditions of a printing apparatus connected to a computer through a UI and controlling the printing apparatus according to the printing conditions set in the UI,
A print condition setting function that can set a print condition for the printing apparatus and obtain a settable range of other print conditions in this setting;
A dependency relationship data storage function for storing dependency relationship data indicating a dependency relationship between the printing conditions in a predetermined storage medium;
A specific print condition is set to a specific set value by the print condition setting function, and a settable range of another print condition that depends on the specific print condition is acquired with reference to the dependency relationship and the settable range A settable range acquisition function for storing settable range data indicating a predetermined storage medium;
The settable range of the print condition is acquired by referring to the settable range data, and an option for setting the print condition in the settable range is displayed on a predetermined output device and the set value of the print condition is set. Print condition input / output function that accepts input,
The settable range of the print condition depending on the print condition changed by the input of the set value is acquired with reference to the settable range data, and the settable range of the dependent print condition is set for a predetermined output device. Print condition update function to be displayed,
A print execution instruction reception function for receiving an instruction to execute printing under the printing conditions with the received setting value;
A printing control program for causing a computer to realize a printing control function for driving a printing apparatus under printing conditions with the received set value in accordance with an instruction to execute the printing and printing an image. A data structure for describing a settable range of driving conditions of a peripheral device connected to a computer,
The dependency relationship of the drive conditions forms a hierarchical structure, and the dependency relationship is a relationship in which the settable range of the lower drive condition changes when the set value of the higher drive condition is changed.
Data indicating the upper drive condition with respect to the specified target drive condition that defines the settable range, data indicating the set value of the higher drive condition, and settings that can be set in the specified target drive condition when the set value is As a pair with the data indicating the possible range,
A data structure characterized in that a settable range is described for each of the prescribed target drive conditions by listing this set.

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