JP2005228046A - Printing processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate operations necessary before a check on folder information and item information and smooth printing processing by accessing a printing device from a specific information processing apparatus without special operations such as IP address designation and quickly reading out folder information and item information in print setting files stored in the accessed printing device. <P>SOLUTION: Even without the knowledge of an IP address of the printing device 10, a data storage part 14 of the printing device 10 can be accessed easily from a "My Computer" screen 50 of a host device 30. This increases the efficiency of access operations, and increases the overall efficiency of a printing processing system owing to quick handling of a change in printing conditions of the printing device 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as a printer, and a print processing system for causing the printing apparatus to print print data.

  Conventionally, when printing is performed by a printing device such as a printer, a printer driver provided in the host device is provided from an information processing device (hereinafter referred to as a host device) such as a personal computer (PC) connected to the printing device. In general, print data is transmitted via the network. In this case, for example, when the user instructs printing of print data created on a desired application on the host device side, a printer driver corresponding to an arbitrary printer to be output by the user is called and the printer can interpret Print data is converted into a predetermined control code such as a PDL (Page Description Language) language and output to a printer. In addition, the user can specify print conditions such as the paper size of the print data, the number of output sheets / number of copies, duplex / single-sided printing, presence / absence of sorting, and the like by this printer driver, thereby outputting the print data in a desired format. be able to.

  However, in the user interface (UI) screen at the time of setting the print condition in the printer driver as described above, it is common to set a print condition by switching a plurality of screens by tabs or the like, and a desired function on the UI screen is set. It is very difficult to tell where the setting location to be set is on the UI screen of the printer driver. Further, the configuration of the UI screen of the printer driver varies from printer manufacturer to printer manufacturer, so it is even more so when operating printer drivers that are not familiar to users.

  For this reason, the applicant displays a print setting file configured by hierarchically linking folders displaying a plurality of items as print conditions, and is displayed when the print setting file is selected. Select items in order from the folder in the lower hierarchy to the folder in the lower hierarchy, and store the print data file in the folder in the lowest hierarchy to instruct the printing of the print data under the specified printing conditions. However, a printing apparatus capable of executing printing based on the instructed printing conditions and the print data, and a printing instruction apparatus have been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

As a result, the print control is performed in correspondence with the folder in which the print data is stored, so the print condition setting of the print data can be performed without using special software for setting the print condition.
JP 2003-256165 A

  However, for example, the hardware configuration of the printing apparatus is not permanently changed, and optional items may be added or removed as appropriate. Folder information that configures the print setting file and item information for each folder may be displayed. It is necessary to check appropriately or change the setting as necessary. Optional products include feeders, sorters, double-sided printing functions, and the like.

  To confirm the folder information constituting the print setting file and the item information for each folder and change the settings, the specific information processing apparatus accesses the printing apparatus and reads the folder information and item information stored in the printing apparatus. In this case, since the information processing device and the printing device are usually remote and connected to the network, the IP address of the printing device is specified (designated) in the information processing device. There must be.

  In general, the IP address is not constantly used, but needs to be stored in some form and searched for the printing apparatus by tracing the storage, so that the printing apparatus cannot be accessed quickly. For this reason, the folder configuration setting change operation that conforms to the current printing conditions of the printing apparatus becomes complicated, resulting in a reduction in work efficiency, which in turn hinders printing processing.

  In consideration of the above facts, the present invention enables access to a printing apparatus from a specific information processing apparatus without performing a special operation such as designation of an IP address, and print settings stored in the accessed printing apparatus. It is possible to obtain a print processing system that can quickly read out folder information and item information of a file, improve workability required before checking the folder information and item information, and can smoothly perform print processing. Is the purpose.

  The present invention provides a display unit for displaying a print setting file configured by hierarchically linking folders displaying a plurality of items as print conditions, and an upper level displayed when the print setting file is selected. Select each item by storing the print data file in the folder in the lowest layer where the specified printing conditions are set, and the folder selection means that selects the items in order from the folder of the folder to the folder of the lower hierarchy An information processing apparatus including a print instruction unit that instructs printing of the print data according to a set print condition, a storage unit that stores folder information constituting the print setting file and item information for each folder, and a print A printing apparatus comprising: a printing apparatus including a printing condition instructed by the instructing unit and a printing execution unit that executes printing based on the print data. In the management system, a print information file for referring to folder information and item information stored in the storage unit of the printing apparatus is displayed together with the print setting file on the display unit of the information processing apparatus. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, the print information file for referring to the folder information and the item information stored in the storage unit of the printing apparatus is displayed on the display unit of the information processing apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to easily refer to the print information file without searching for the IP address of the printing apparatus being used, and the work efficiency for accessing the printing apparatus can be improved.

  In the present invention, the display section of the information processing apparatus displays a designation screen provided with a designation area for designating internal and external storage devices accessible by the information processing apparatus itself. It is characterized in that a designated area is provided that allows access to the storage means in which the print information file is stored.

  The information processing apparatus has a designation screen provided with a designation area for designating internal and external storage devices that can be accessed by the information processing apparatus itself. By providing the designated area that can be accessed, it can be handled as one of the storage media connected to the information processing apparatus.

  In the present invention, the print information file is a rewritable file format that does not require a specific application.

  For example, in the HTML format, rewriting is possible without requiring a specific application.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to access a printing apparatus from a specific information processing apparatus without performing a special operation such as designation of an IP address, and a print setting file stored in the accessed printing apparatus. Folder information and item information can be quickly read out, and the workability required before confirmation of the folder information and item information can be improved and the printing process can be performed smoothly.

  1 and 2 show a printing apparatus 10 constituting the print processing system according to the present embodiment, and an information processing apparatus for transmitting desired print data to the printing apparatus 10 and issuing a print instruction. A host device 30 is shown. The printing apparatus 10 and the host apparatus 30 are connected to each other via the I / F 11 (printing apparatus 10 side) and 32 (host apparatus 30 side). 1 illustrates the configuration of the printing apparatus 10 in detail, and FIG. 5 illustrates the configuration of the host apparatus 30 in detail. Further, as the host device 30, a personal information terminal such as a PC and a PDA or a mobile phone can be adopted.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 10 includes a data receiving unit 12 that receives print data transmitted from the host device 30, a data storage unit 14 that stores print data received by the data receiving unit, and a printing apparatus 10. A print control unit 16 that performs overall control of the image, a drawing processing unit 18 that develops the print data into image data, and a printing mechanism that prints the print data on a predetermined sheet based on the image data generated by the drawing processing unit 18 20.

  Further, the printing apparatus 10 directly interprets a PDL processing unit 22 that interprets print data expressed in a predetermined page description language and a print data file created on predetermined application software on the host apparatus 30 side. It has a parser unit 24 for processing. The parser unit 24 interprets the print data corresponding to each predetermined application, and processes the data so that the printing mechanism 20 can print it.

  The data receiving unit 12 can identify the file type of the received print data, and automatically determines whether the received print data is PDL data expressed in a predetermined page description language or a predetermined application file. Is discriminated automatically. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the data receiving unit 12 may manually specify the file type of the print data. In addition, transmission of print data from the host device 30 can use a general FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), or the like as a file transfer protocol.

  Here, the PDL processing unit 22 and the parser unit 24 that convert received print data into image data will be described.

  The received print data is identified by the data receiving unit 12 as a file type. When it is determined that the file type is a file format of an application supported by the printing apparatus 10, the file type is transferred to the parser unit 24. The parser unit 24 performs file analysis on the received print data based on the format of the corresponding application.

  As another path, when the PDL data created by the host device 30 is received, the print data is determined to be PDL data by the data receiving unit 12 and is consequently transferred to the PDL processing unit 22 for interpretation. It is like that.

  Although the printing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes the PDL processing unit 22 and the parser unit 24, only one of them may be provided.

For example, when the parser unit 24 is provided, the number of processing steps is reduced and the print processing time is reduced as compared with normal printing via an application. That is, in the case of printing from an application, in the host device 30,
(1) Application launch (2) File open (3) Print setting and instruction execution (4) Communication between GDI (Graphics Device Interface) and printer driver (5) PDL compatible data creation (6) Printing device Data transmission in the present embodiment is performed by the following steps.
(1) File specification (2) Print setting and execution of instruction (3) Attachment of print information (4) Data transmission to printing device In this way, in the printing device 10 having the parser unit 24, application startup, Since processing that requires a long processing time of opening a file is omitted, the time required for printing is greatly reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the data storage unit 14 is provided with a plurality of predetermined areas from the storage area 1 to the storage area n (n is a natural number), and predetermined printing conditions are set in advance in each area. Correspondingly defined. Furthermore, in this embodiment, each area is defined as a folder, and a predetermined printing condition is set as the folder name. The folder structure in the data storage unit 14 can be referred to from the host device 30 side. A plurality of areas provided as folders in the data storage unit 14 can be provided, and the items of printing conditions set in each area include a plurality of items such as paper size, number of copies, duplex / single-sided printing, sorting, N-UP, and the like. Contains items.

  As the folder structure in the data storage unit 14, a hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 4 can be adopted.

  In this hierarchical structure, first, areas corresponding to a plurality of printing conditions relating to the paper size are provided, and each area is defined as a folder. Here, areas corresponding to a plurality of printing conditions relating to the number of copies are provided as lower layers. In FIG. 4, an area corresponding to the printing condition relating to the number of copies is further provided in the lower hierarchy of the area corresponding to the paper size of A3. For example, when the printing apparatus 10 is capable of printing up to 999 copies, 999 regions from 1 to 999 copies may be provided as the region related to the number of copies. After selecting 1 to 9 parts out of 9 parts, 10 to 99 parts, 100 parts or more, 2 parts are selected. Furthermore, printing conditions relating to double-sided / single-sided printing are provided in the lower layer of the number of copies, printing conditions for N-UP printing are provided in the lower layer of double-sided / single-sided printing, and sorted printing is provided in the lower layer. An area for is provided. As described above, as an area below the area corresponding to a certain printing condition, a printing condition area related to an item other than the printing condition item is provided. The contents of these printing conditions are set as the folder name of the area defined as the folder. Although FIG. 4 shows only the lower hierarchy for the A3 paper size, the lower hierarchy relating to the number of copies is provided for the other A4 paper size, B4 paper size, B5 paper size, and postcard size as well as the A3 paper size. In addition, all areas of other printing conditions such as the number of copies, duplex / single-sided printing, N-UP, and sort printing also have lower layers. When print data is stored in any area of the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 configured as described above, the PDL processing unit 22 or the parser unit 24 of the printing apparatus 10 stores the print data in the area where the print data is stored. The print data is interpreted based on the corresponding print conditions, and the print data developed into the image data by the drawing processing unit 18 is printed by the printing mechanism 20 under the control of the print control unit 16. In this case, when the print data is stored in the area of the lowest hierarchy, printing is performed according to all the printing conditions corresponding to the higher hierarchy. That is, in the case of FIG. 4, for example, when print data is stored in an area corresponding to “sort”, printing is performed under a print condition of “A3 paper size, two copies, single-sided printing, 1-UP, sort”. It will be. When print data is stored in an area other than the lowest hierarchy, all the printing conditions corresponding to the hierarchy higher than that hierarchy are followed as they are, and the printing conditions of the hierarchy lower than that hierarchy are determined in advance. Printing is performed using the default value (initial value). Specifically, when print data is stored in the single-sided printing area in FIG. 4, printing is performed under the printing condition of “A3 paper size, two copies, single-sided printing”, and initial values for N-UP and sort printing are used. For example, printing is performed under an initial printing condition set in advance, for example, “1-UP, no sorting”.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the host device 30.

  In the host device 30, an OS 36 executed under the control of a main control unit (not shown), a plurality of application programs 37 installed on the OS 36, a display unit 40 composed of a display made up of a CRT, a liquid crystal display, etc., print data A storage unit 38, a communication interface (communication I / F) 32 for communicating with the printing apparatus, and a print instruction control unit 34 for issuing a print instruction are provided.

  The print data storage unit 38 stores files created by the application program 37 and print data created by PDL. The files stored in the print data storage unit 38 are not limited to those created by the application program 37 of the host device 30, for example, those sent from other host devices 30 as email attachments, Or downloaded from a file server. The host device 30 transmits a file designated by the user among the files stored in the print data storage unit 38 to the printing device 10 via the communication I / F 32.

  In addition, the host device 30 receives information related to the folder structure of the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 from the printing apparatus 10 and displays the information on the display unit 40. Here, the folder structure of the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 is displayed as an icon, and the printing conditions corresponding to the folder are displayed as the name of the folder. Thereby, the user can visually recognize and grasp the folder structure related to the printing conditions of the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10.

  In the present embodiment, the display on the display unit 40 is performed by the file operation software provided in advance in the OS 36 that operates folders and files. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is also possible to provide a web server on the printing apparatus 10 side and display on the display unit 40 of the host apparatus 30 a list of information on printing conditions that can be set on the printing apparatus 10 via the Internet. In this case, the host device 30 performs display via browser software for browsing the Web site.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the host device 30 receives information about the folder configuration from the printing device 10 and displays it on the display unit 40. However, the information about the folder configuration of the printing device 10 is displayed on the CD-ROM or floppy disk. It may be installed in the host device 30 in advance by downloading from a disk or a website of the manufacturer of the printing device.

  Here, in the present embodiment, a signal for directly accessing the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 separately from the print data transmitted to the data receiving unit 12 of the printing apparatus 10 to the specific host apparatus 30. Can be sent out.

  Generally, if the printing apparatus 10 and the host apparatus 30 are connected via a network, each device is identified by being assigned an IP address. Therefore, the IP address of the printing apparatus 10 is designated from the host apparatus 30. Thus, access to the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 is possible.

  However, since the IP address is not visible to the operator in normal operation, it is necessary to store the IP address for access or to refer to the IP address distribution table. Because of poor work efficiency.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the “My Computer” screen in the “Windows® / manufactured by Microsoft” used as the user interface screen (for example, OS (operation system)) shown in FIG. ) 50, and a designated area that can directly access the data storage unit 14 by designating the printing apparatus 10 is set.

  FIG. 5 shows an existing “My Computer” screen 50 in the host device 30, and a plurality of storage devices (“3.5 inch FD (A :)”), “Hard Disk (C: ) ”And“ CD-ROM (D :)), the printing apparatus 10 is separated by partition as “printer (P :)” in a graphical display form.

  When the printer (P :) is designated on the my computer screen 50 (when the pointer is placed and clicked), the printer (P :) window screen 52 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed.

  On the window screen 52 of the printer (P :), the printer instruction file icon 54 based on the folder configuration in the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 and the folder configuration stored in the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 are displayed. Are displayed, and a printer setting file icon 56 is displayed.

  When the printer instruction file icon 54 is specified, print conditions are set in the order of the hierarchy shown in FIG. 7, and print instructions can be given by storing (drag and drop) the print data in a folder in the lowest hierarchy. It has become. The designation of the printer instruction file icon 54 is made by a printing apparatus (for example, PRINTER1) displayed on the network computer screen 58 shown in FIG. 8 as each connected device on the network in the same manner as other host devices and file servers. It has the same function as specified, and from this network computer screen 58, printing conditions are set in the order of the hierarchy shown in FIG. 7, and printing is performed by storing print data (drag and drop) in a folder in the lowest hierarchy. Instructions are possible.

  On the other hand, the printer setting file icon 56 is for referring to the data itself stored in the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10. When the printer setting file icon 56 is designated, the printer setting file icon 56 shown in FIG. A screen 60 is displayed. This printer setting screen 60 is an HTML file, and can be rewritten (updated) as well as referenced.

  The printer setting screen 60 includes a plurality of items A to D (in this embodiment, item A is “job and history”, item B is “status”, item C is “property”, item D is “assistance”, etc.) It is classified.

  For example, when item A is selected from the printer setting screen 60, a “job and history” screen 62 as shown in FIG. 10 is newly displayed.

  In other words, the specific host device 30 can handle the data storage unit 14 of the printing device 10 as a storage device managed by the host device 30 itself, in the same manner as other internal and external storage devices.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

(Printing condition setting and printing instruction)
In the host apparatus 30 to which the printing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is connected, each display unit 40 on the network to which the host apparatus 30 (for example, corresponding to HOST1) is connected as shown in FIG. A screen showing a list of connected devices is displayed. As shown in FIG. 8, in the present embodiment, as each connected device on the network, the printing device 10 (for example, corresponding to PRINTER1) is displayed so that it can be referred to as with other host devices 30 and file servers. The

  When the printing device 10 (PRINTER1) that executes printing is selected on the display unit 40, the folder structure in the data storage unit 14 of the printing device 10 has the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 4, and FIGS. As shown in F), options relating to printing conditions that can be specified by the selected printing apparatus 10 (PRINTER1) are displayed, and the options are displayed as a folder.

  Even if the printer (P :) window screen 52 (see FIG. 6) is displayed from the My Computer screen 50 shown in FIG. 5 and the printer instruction file 54 is designated from the printer (P :) window screen 52, Similarly, a folder for print designation is displayed.

  FIG. 11 shows a flow of switching each display screen (FIG. 7) by the user's folder operation.

  First, when “PRINTER1” as the printing apparatus 10 is selected on the display screen shown in FIG. 8 or when the printer instruction file 54 is selected from the window screen 52 of the printer (P :) shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, a folder group in which printing conditions relating to the paper size are set as names is displayed (state S1 in FIG. 11). Here, for example, when “A3 paper size” is selected (operation M1 in FIG. 11), the printing condition relating to the number of copies is set as the name as a lower folder, as shown in FIG. 7B. A folder group is displayed (state S2 in FIG. 11). Again, if a folder of “1-9 copies” is selected to specify a desired number of copies, for example, 2 copies (operation M2 in FIG. 11), the next hierarchy is displayed as shown in FIG. 7C. Therefore (desired state S3 in FIG. 11), the desired two-copy printing is selected here (operation M3 in FIG. 11). In the next layer, as shown in FIG. 7D, a folder group corresponding to double-sided printing and single-sided printing is displayed (state S4 in FIG. 11). Here, when “single-sided printing” is selected (operation M4 in FIG. 11), as shown in FIG. 7E, a folder group regarding the number of ups in N-UP printing is displayed in the next hierarchy (FIG. 11). In this state S5), for example, “2-UP” is selected (operation M5 in FIG. 11). In the next layer, as shown in FIG. 7F, a folder group regarding whether or not sorting is performed is displayed (state S6 in FIG. 11). Here, “sort” is selected (operation M6 in FIG. 11). Thus, when the folder for sorting, which is the lowest hierarchy, is selected, the print data file operation is performed on this folder (operation M7 in FIG. 11). As a result, the print data is transmitted to and stored in the corresponding folder designated by the host device 30 provided in the data storage unit 14 in the printing apparatus 10.

  The file operation method here may be an operation of dragging and dropping a print data icon to a folder using a mouse. Alternatively, the print data to be transmitted and a destination folder may be designated and transmitted. It may be a thing. At this time, the file to be transferred may be in the format of an application file created by the application or in the PDL format. In addition, FTP or HTTP, which is commonly used for file transfer, is desirable, but is not limited thereto. In this example, the file operation is performed on the folder in the lowest hierarchy and the print data is transferred. However, the print data can be transmitted at a stage where the middle hierarchy is specified. For example, when a folder for designating whether or not to perform double-sided printing in FIG. 7D is designated, if a file operation of print data is performed in that folder, “A3” designated above the hierarchy higher than the printing conditions relating to double-sided printing. Print data is transmitted to the “paper size” and “two copies” and “single-sided printing” folders specified last. In this case, the printing apparatus 10 performs printing as specified up to the specified A3 paper size, two copies, and single-sided printing, and the sort and N-UP specified in the lower hierarchy are based on pre-registered initial values. Printing.

(Print execution process)
When print data is transmitted on the host device 30 side as described above, the processing routine shown in FIG.

  First, in step 100, the print data from the host device 30 is received by the data receiving unit 12, and the user on the host device 30 side out of the area corresponding to the printing conditions provided in the data storage unit 14 of the printing device 10. Print data is stored in the area corresponding to the specified folder.

  Next, when the print data is stored in the area of the data storage unit 14, the printing apparatus 10 determines a print condition corresponding to the area in which the print data is stored, and the PDL processing unit 22 or the parser unit 24 performs printing. The print data is interpreted based on the print condition corresponding to the area where the data is stored (steps 102 and 104).

  Next, the interpreted print data is developed into image data by the drawing processing unit 18, and the print mechanism 20 is controlled to perform print output (steps 106 and 108). Specifically, when the area configuration of the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, when print data is stored in the storage area 1, the storage area 1 corresponds to the storage area 1. If the print data is printed with the printing condition “A4, 1 copy, single-sided printing” and the print data is stored in the print area 2, print with “A3, 2 copies, 2-sided printing, 2-UP”. Data will be printed.

  The print data for which print output has been completed is erased from the stored area when it is confirmed that printing has been completed normally (steps 110 and 112). As a result, the printed data does not remain in the data storage unit forever. The print results are classified into items such as “job name”, “owner”, “host device name”, “output result”, etc., and are left as a print history (see FIG. 10).

(Print condition data reference / update)
When the printing condition item in the printing apparatus 10 needs to be changed, it is necessary to access the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 and change it.

  In this case, the printer (P :) is designated (clicking with the pointer on the My Computer screen 50 shown in FIG. 5), and the printer (P :) window screen 52 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed.

  A printer setting file icon 56 is designated from the window screen 52 of the printer (P :), and the data itself stored in the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 is referred to (the printer setting screen 60 shown in FIG. Is displayed).

  The printer setting screen 60 is an HTML format file, and can be rewritten (updated) as well as referenced, and the desired items A to D are selected to perform reference or update.

  For example, when the item A is selected from the printer setting screen 60, a “job and history” screen 62 as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed, and the jobs and history up to now can be referred to. Further, in another item, it is possible to change the printing conditions and the like, and it is also possible to authenticate an operator that can be updated as necessary.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the data storage unit 14 of the printing apparatus 10 can be easily accessed from the “My Computer” screen 50 of the host apparatus 30 without knowing the IP address of the printing apparatus 10. Therefore, the work efficiency for access is improved, and as a result, when the printing conditions of the printing apparatus 10 are changed, it is possible to respond quickly and the efficiency of the entire print processing system is also improved.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the host apparatus which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the storage area of the data storage part which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the hierarchy information in a data storage part. It is a front view of the user interface screen (“My Computer” screen) of the host device according to the present embodiment. It is a front view of the window screen of a printer (P :). (A)-(F) is a figure for demonstrating an example of the display screen which shows the folder group corresponding to the hierarchy information of FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a display screen showing a folder group corresponding to a printing apparatus and a host apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is a front view of a printer setting screen. It is a front view of a “job and history” screen which is one of the items of the printer setting screen. It is a figure for demonstrating the flow of the switching by folder operation of each display screen shown in FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of printing processing according to the present embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 Printer 11 I / F
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Data reception part 14 Data storage part 16, 16A Print control part 17 Hierarchical information analysis part 18 Drawing process part 20 Printing mechanism 22 PDL process part 24 Parser part 30 Host apparatus 32 I / F
34 Print Instruction Control Unit 36 OS
37 Application 38 Print Data Storage Unit 40 Display Unit 50 My Computer Screen 52 Window Screen 54 Printer Instruction File Icon 56 Printer Setting File Icon 58 Network Computer Screen 60 Printer Setting Screen 62 “Job and History” Screen

Claims (3)

A display unit that displays a print setting file configured by hierarchically linking folders displaying a plurality of items as print conditions, and a lower level folder that is displayed when the print setting file is selected. Folder selection means for selecting items in order to folders in the hierarchy, and the printing conditions in which each item is specified by storing the print data file in the folder in the lowest hierarchy in which the specified printing conditions are set An information processing apparatus comprising: a print instruction means for instructing printing of the print data;
Storage means for storing folder information constituting the print setting file and item information for each folder, and a print execution means for executing printing based on the print conditions specified by the print instruction means and the print data. Printing device,
A print processing system comprising:
A print information file for referring to folder information and item information stored in a storage unit of the printing apparatus is displayed on the display unit of the information processing apparatus together with the print setting file. Processing system. On the display unit of the information processing apparatus, a designation screen provided with a designation area for designating internal and external storage devices accessible by the information processing apparatus itself is displayed.
The print processing system according to claim 1, wherein a designated area is provided on the designation screen so as to allow access to a storage unit in which the print information file is stored.   3. The print processing system according to claim 1, wherein the print information file has a rewritable file format that does not require a specific application.

Images