JP2006091947A - Print system, print controller, printer driver, and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent print to a printing medium which is not intended by a user in a print system which performs manual paper feed print to a plurality of printing media. <P>SOLUTION: This print system is provided with a printer for executing the manual paper feed print to the plurality of types of print media and a print controller. This print system is provided with an instruction accepting means for accepting an instruction to designate a print medium, a deciding means for deciding the type of the print medium relative to the manual paper feed print, a control means for comparing the designated print medium with the print medium relative to the manual paper feed print, and for deciding the propriety of the combination of the both print media, and a notification means for notifying a user that it is decided that the combination of the both print media is not proper. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system having a printing apparatus and a printing control apparatus, and more particularly to a printing system that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of printing media.

  A printer capable of printing on a label surface of a disk-type recording medium (hereinafter referred to as “CD / DVD”) such as a CD or DVD has been put into practical use. In such a printer, printing is performed by manual sheet feeding while a CD / DVD is placed on a dedicated tray.

  In addition, because of improved print quality, so-called photo printing is also performed on printers for individuals and homes, but it has a structure that can be assembled as a photo stand so that the printed photos can be displayed as they are. Photo paper is commercially available. Such thick photographic paper is also printed by manual feeding.

  Conventionally, when print media is sent from a host computer when a print medium is set in a manual paper feeder, a printer executes manual feed regardless of what the print medium is. It was.

  For this reason, even if the user has sent print data for the CD / DVD label to the printer, thick photo paper is set in the manual paper feeder of the printer. Despite sending print data for paper, printing was performed even when a CD / DVD was set.

  In general, these printing media are more expensive than plain paper, so it is desirable to avoid unintended printing.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent printing on a print medium unintended by a user in a printing system that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of print media.

A printing system according to a first aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is
A printing system having a printing device for manually feeding a plurality of types of printing media and a printing control device,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
A discriminating means for discriminating the type of print medium relating to manual feed;
A control means for comparing the designated print medium with the print medium according to the manual feed, and determining whether the combination of the two is appropriate;
In the case where it is determined that the combination of the two is inappropriate, a notification means for notifying the user to that effect is provided.

  Accordingly, the user can recognize that manual printing on an unintended print medium is about to be performed.

A printing control apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problem is
A print control apparatus that outputs print data to a printing apparatus that performs manual printing on a plurality of types of printing media,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
Output means for outputting information indicating whether or not the designated print medium is a specific print medium to the printing apparatus together with the print data;
When receiving from the printing apparatus information indicating that the combination of the designated print medium and the print medium related to manual feed is inappropriate, display means for displaying that the print medium related to manual feed is inappropriate. Features.

  Here, instead of information indicating whether or not the designated print medium is a specific print medium, information indicating the designated print medium may be output to the printing apparatus.

A printer driver according to a third aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is
A printer driver that causes a computer to function as a print control device that outputs print data to a printing device that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of types of print media,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
Output means for outputting information indicating whether or not the designated print medium is a specific print medium to the printing apparatus together with the print data;
When information indicating that the combination of the designated print medium and the manual print medium is inappropriate is received from the printing apparatus, the computer functions as display means for displaying that the manual print medium is inappropriate. It is characterized by that.

A printing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problem is
A printing device that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of types of print media according to print data sent from a print control device,
A discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the type of the print medium relating to the manual feed is a specific print medium;
Receiving means for receiving information about the type of print medium targeted by the print data from the print control device;
A control means for comparing the print medium targeted by the print data with the print medium according to the manual feed, and determining whether the combination of the two is appropriate;
And a notification means for notifying the print control apparatus when the combination of the two is determined to be inappropriate.

  Here, instead of determining means for determining whether or not the type of print medium related to manual feeding is a specific print medium, it may be determined as determining means for determining the type of print medium related to manual feeding.

  The specific type of print medium determined by the determination unit may be a disk-type recording medium.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of a hardware configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applied.

  As shown in the figure, the printing system includes a computer 30 for realizing various processes using application software, a printing process using a printer driver, and the like, and a multifunction machine 10 connected to the computer 30. The multifunction machine 10 is a printer device having an image reading function (scanner function).

  In the present embodiment, the computer 30 functions as a print control apparatus that generates print data and transmits the print data to the multifunction machine 10. The multifunction device 10 functions as a printing apparatus that performs printing based on the received print data.

  A printer driver, which is a computer program for causing the computer 30 to function as a printing control apparatus, is generally developed for the multifunction device 10 by the manufacturer of the multifunction device 10, and is recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and distributed. Distributed through a computer network. The configuration of the printing system is not limited to this.

  The computer 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes various programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores data and programs, and various data and various programs for controlling the computer 30 in advance. And a control unit 31 having a ROM (Read Only Memory) and the like, and an input / output interface unit 32 that controls transmission / reception of data to / from a connected peripheral device.

  The computer 30 includes a display device 21 such as a color display, an input device 22 such as a mouse and a keyboard, a media reading device 23 that reads data from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, an auxiliary storage device 24, and a computer network such as the Internet. A communication control device 25 or the like for connecting to is connected. However, the configuration of the computer 30 is not limited to this.

  The multifunction machine 10 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like, and controls each process of the multifunction machine 10; a scanner unit 12 that reads reflected light from a document placed on a document table and converts it into image data; A printer unit 13 that performs printing based on image data, an input / output interface unit 14 that communicates with the computer 30, and a user interface unit that receives instructions from the user and displays the state of the multifunction machine 10 and the like. 15. However, the configuration of the multifunction machine 10 is not limited to this.

  The multifunction machine 10 can print the document read by the scanner unit 12 by the printer unit 13 and can also print by the printer unit 13 based on the print data sent from the computer 30.

  The scanner unit 12 includes a reading engine unit 12a including a light source, a lens, a scanning motor, a CCD (Charge Coupled Devic) sensor, and the like, and an A / D conversion unit 12b. The reading engine unit 12a scans the original while illuminating the original, and performs a process of guiding the reflected light to a CCD sensor with red (R), green (G), and blue (B) filters. The A / D conversion unit 12b converts the grayscale analog information read by the CCD sensor into digital signals (RGB signals) and outputs them as image data.

  The printer unit 13 can be an inkjet color printer. An ink-jet color printer includes a plurality of ink cartridges filled with ink in a casing, and performs printing by spraying the ink from a plurality of nozzles provided in a print head onto a print medium such as a print sheet. However, a laser printer may be used as the printer unit 13.

  The printer unit 13 includes an image processing unit 13a and a print engine unit 13b.

  The image processing unit 13 a generates image data that can be used by the print engine unit 13 b based on the image data acquired by the scanner unit 12, or generates image data based on the print data sent from the computer 30. .

  The print engine unit 13b includes a printing mechanism, a paper supply / discharge mechanism, and the like, and performs printing on a printing medium set in the multifunction machine 10 based on the image data. In the present embodiment, the print engine unit 13b includes a manual sheet feeding port 107 in addition to two automatic sheet feeders as a sheet feeding mechanism. As will be described later, this paper feeding device is provided on the front surface of the housing of the multifunction machine 10. The manual paper feed port 107 is used for label printing of CD / DVD or the like stored in a dedicated tray and printing of thick photographic paper.

  Further, the print engine unit 13b is provided with a sensor 103b for detecting that a dedicated tray for CD / DVD is set in the manual sheet feeding port 107.

  The user interface unit 15 can be configured using, for example, a display panel including operation buttons and a liquid crystal display device.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the computer 30 to which the present invention is applied.

  As shown in the figure, the computer 30 includes an application unit 310, an operating system (OS) unit 320, and a printer driver unit 330.

  The application unit 310 has a function for causing the computer 30 to perform processing such as a word processor and graphics, and is constructed on the computer 30 when the control unit 31 executes the application program. The application unit 310 stores a document 311 to be printed in this embodiment.

  The operating system unit 320 outputs a print control unit 321 that manages the operation of the printer driver unit 330, and print data including a print command to the multi-function device 10 or an I / O that inputs information from the multi-function device 10. Part 322.

  The printer driver unit 330 includes a spooler 331 that stores drawing commands related to the document 311 in the spool file 332, and a print command generation unit that generates a print command that can be interpreted by the MFP 10 based on the drawing commands stored in the spool file 332. 333, a user interface (UI) control unit 335 that controls the display device 21 and the input device 23, print conditions sent from the user interface control unit 335, and status information from the MFP 10 are acquired. A printing condition management unit 334.

  The printer driver unit 330 is constructed on the computer 30 when the control unit 31 of the computer 30 executes a printer driver program developed by the manufacturer of the multifunction machine 10 or the like. The printer driver program can be distributed in the market by recording on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. It can also be distributed to the market via a computer network such as the Internet.

  In the present embodiment, the printer driver unit 330 can process manual printing in the multifunction machine 10. The target of manual feed can be a label surface of a disc such as a CD / DVD and a thick photo paper. Here, a disc such as a CD / DVD is manually fed while being placed on a dedicated tray. Further, the thick photographic paper has a structure that can be assembled as a photo stand, for example, and can be a paper that can be used for decorating a photo printed by manual printing as it is. Hereinafter, the thick photo paper is also referred to as “photo stand”. However, the manual printing process may be performed on other print media.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a CD / DVD tray 120 which is a dedicated tray at the time of CD / DVD label printing. As shown in this figure, the CD / DVD tray 120 is provided with a recess 120a for placing the CD / DVD 130, and the CD / DVD 130 is set in the recess 120a with the label surface facing upward.

  Further, the surface of the CD / DVD tray 120 is provided with a mark 120b used for positioning in manual printing. A sensor 103b provided in the multi-function peripheral 10 can detect that the CD / DVD tray 120 is set in the manual paper feed port 107 by detecting the mark 120b, and the print engine unit 13b The print position of the CD / DVD 130 placed on the CD / DVD tray 120 is finely adjusted based on the position of the detected mark 120b. Conversely, if the sensor 103b does not detect the mark 120b, the sensor 103b can determine that the CD / DVD tray 120 is not set in the manual sheet feeding port 107.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a schematic cross section of the multifunction machine 10. As shown in the figure, the multifunction machine 10 includes two automatic paper feeders, a rear paper feeding port 105 and a front paper feeding port 106, in which a printing paper 110a and a printing paper 110b are set, respectively. . The printing paper 110 can be, for example, plain paper, thin photographic paper that can be automatically fed, or the like.

  The printing paper 110 fed from the rear paper feeding port 105 or the front paper feeding port 106 by a plurality of rollers 108 is applied to the printing surface by ink droplets ejected from the print head provided in the carriage 103 on which the ink cartridge is mounted. An image is formed. The printed printing paper is discharged from a paper discharge port 107 by a plurality of rollers 108.

  A manual feed guide 109 used for manual printing is provided at the lower portion of the paper discharge port 107 so that it can be pulled out. That is, at the time of manual printing, the manual feed guide 109 is pulled out, and the paper discharge port 107 is used as the manual paper feed port 107.

  The manual feed guide 109 indicates a position where a CD / DVD tray or thick photographic paper is set, and the user can set the CD / DVD tray or thick photographic paper at an appropriate position.

  The scanner unit 12 includes a document table 101 and a line sensor 102 that scans the document, and the user interface unit 15 includes an operation panel 104.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the manual sheet feeding mechanism of the multifunction machine 10. In this figure, a case where the CD / DVD tray 120 is manually fed will be described as an example.

  As shown in the figure, when manual feeding is performed, the user pulls out the manual guide 109 and sets the CD / DVD tray 120 at a predetermined position of the manual guide 109. Then, the CD / DVD tray 120 is pulled in the direction of the carriage 103 by the roller 108.

  Here, a sensor 103 b is provided in the vicinity of the print head 103 a of the carriage 103. The sensor 103b may be an optical sensor, for example, and detects the mark 120b attached to the CD / DVD tray 120 when the CD / DVD tray 120 is pulled in, so that the CD / DVD tray 120 feeds paper. Can be detected.

  On the other hand, if the mark 120b is not detected, it can be determined that a print medium other than the CD / DVD tray 120 has been fed.

  The sensor 103b is not limited to an optical sensor, and various methods can be used. Further, not only the detection of the CD / DVD tray 120 or any other print medium, but also what the other print medium is may be detected.

  Next, processing of the printer driver unit 330 when performing manual feed printing processing in the present embodiment will be described.

  For example, the user interface control unit 335 of the printer driver unit 330 causes the display device 21 to display a basic setting screen 700 as shown in FIG.

  The user can specify a print medium to be used for printing in the paper type selection field 701 of the basic setting screen 700. As print media, in addition to plain paper, glossy paper, etc., which are fed from an automatic paper feeder (rear paper feed port 105, front paper feed port 106), CD / DVD labels and photo stands for manual printing are used. You can choose. In this embodiment, it is assumed that either a CD / DVD label or a photo stand is selected. As a result, the printer driver unit 330 can know that either the CD / DVD label or the photo stand is to be printed.

  Further, the user interface control unit 335 of the printer driver unit 330 causes the display device 21 to display a paper setting screen 720 as shown in FIG.

  The user can specify a paper feeding method in the multifunction machine 10 in the paper feeding method selection field 721 of the paper setting screen 720. As a paper feeding method, in addition to “automatic paper feeding selection” and “rear auto sheet feeder (rear paper feeding port 105)” using an automatic paper feeding device, “manual feeding (fixed form) that feeds from the manual paper feeding port 107” Paper) ”can be selected. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that “manual feed (standard paper)” is selected.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 8, the user can specify the paper size of the print medium in the paper size selection field 722 of the paper setting screen 720. In the case of manual sheet feeding, the sheet size is either A4 size of CD / DVD tray or 2L size of photo stand.

  As described above, the printer driver unit 330 can determine whether the print target intended by the user is a CD / DVD or a photo stand in the case of manual printing based on the user setting.

  Upon receiving a print execution instruction, the printer driver unit 330 generates a print command for printing the document 311 and transmits the print command to the multi function device 10 as print data. At this time, the print data includes information for determining whether the paper feeding method is manual feed and whether the printing target is a CD / DVD or a photo stand. This information may be, for example, information indicating whether it is a photo stand or other.

  Next, the processing of the multifunction machine 10 when performing duplex printing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the input / output interface unit 14 of the multifunction device 10 receives print data sent from the computer 30 (S101).

  The control unit 11 interprets the print data and determines whether or not manual printing is set (S102).

  As a result, if manual printing is not set (S102: N), normal printing processing for feeding paper from the automatic paper feeder (rear paper feeder 105, front paper feeder 106) is performed (S103).

  On the other hand, when the manual printing is set (S102: Y), the control unit 11 interprets the print data and determines whether the printing target is a photo stand (S104).

  On the other hand, based on the detection result of the sensor 103b, it is determined whether or not the CD / DVD tray 120 is set in the manual feed slot 107 (S105).

  Then, the result determined based on the print data is compared with the result determined based on the detection result of the sensor 103b, and it is determined whether the print medium as set by the user is set (S107).

  That is, the print data indicates that the print target is a photo stand, and when the CD / DVD tray 120 is not set in the manual feed slot 107, the print data indicates that the print target is not a photo stand. In the case where the CD / DVD tray 120 is set in the manual feed slot 107, it is determined that the printing medium as set by the user is set.

  On the other hand, if the print data indicates that the print target is a photo stand, but the CD / DVD tray 120 is set in the manual feed slot 107, the print data indicates that the print target is not a photo stand. Although it is shown, when the CD / DVD tray 120 is not set in the manual feed slot 107, it is determined that the print medium as set by the user is not set.

  This determination criterion can be changed as appropriate according to the print target information included in the print data and the detection target of the sensor 103b.

  As a result, if it is determined that the print medium intended by the user is set (S106: Y), manual printing is executed (S107).

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the print medium is not set according to the user's intention (S106: N), the printing process is interrupted, and the computer 30 is notified that the print medium is not appropriate (S108). Upon receiving this report, the printer driver unit 330 warns the user that the print medium is not correctly set in the manual feed port 107.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning screen 740 displayed by the user interface control unit 335 of the printer driver unit 330 when receiving a report indicating that the print medium is not appropriate from the multifunction device 10.

  As shown in the figure, the warning screen 740 displays information notifying that the CD / DVD tray or photo stand paper is not set correctly and information prompting correct setting.

  In addition, a print cancel button 741 for canceling printing is provided, and the printer driver unit 330 stops manual printing when the click of the print cancel button 741 is accepted.

  On the other hand, the multifunction device 10 resumes manual printing when a correct print medium is set in the manual paper feed slot 107 by the user and a predetermined button on the operation panel 104 is pressed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of a hardware configuration of a printing system. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a computer 30. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a schematic cross section of the multifunction machine 10. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a manual sheet feeding mechanism of the multifunction machine. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a CD / DVD tray 120. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a basic setting screen 700. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper feed method selection field on a paper setting screen 720. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper size selection field on a paper setting screen 720. FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the multifunction machine 10 when performing manual printing. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning screen 740. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... MFP, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... Scanner part, 12a ... Reading engine part, 12b ... A / D conversion part, 13 ... Printer part, 13a ... Image processing part, 13b ... Print engine part, 14 ... Input / output Interface unit, 15 ... user interface unit, 21 ... display device, 22 ... input device, 23 ... media reading device, 23 ... input device, 24 ... auxiliary storage device, 25 ... communication control device, 30 ... computer, 31 ... control unit 32, I / O interface unit, 101 ... Document table, 102 ... Line sensor, 103 ... Carriage, 103a ... Print head, 103b ... Sensor, 104 ... Operation panel, 105 ... Rear feed port, 106 ... Front feed port, 107: Paper discharge port (manual paper feed port), 108 ... Roller, 109 ... Manual feed guide, 110 ... Printing paper, 120 ... CD / DVD tray, 30 ... CD / DVD, 310 ... Application part, 311 ... Document, 320 ... Operating system part, 321 ... Print control part, 322 ... I / O part, 330 ... Printer driver part, 331 ... Spooler, 332 ... Spool file, 333 ... Print command creation unit, 334 ... Print condition management unit, 335 ... User interface control unit

Claims (9)

A printing system having a printing device for manually feeding a plurality of types of printing media and a printing control device,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
A discriminating means for discriminating the type of print medium relating to manual feed;
A control means for comparing the designated print medium with the print medium according to the manual feed, and determining whether the combination of the two is appropriate;
A printing system comprising: notification means for notifying the user when the combination of the two is determined to be inappropriate. A print control apparatus that outputs print data to a printing apparatus that performs manual printing on a plurality of types of printing media,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
Output means for outputting information indicating whether or not the designated print medium is a specific print medium to the printing apparatus together with the print data;
When receiving from the printing apparatus information indicating that the combination of the designated print medium and the print medium related to manual feed is inappropriate, display means for displaying that the print medium related to manual feed is inappropriate. A printing control device. A print control apparatus that outputs print data to a printing apparatus that performs manual printing on a plurality of types of printing media,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
Output means for outputting information indicating a designated print medium to the printing apparatus together with the print data;
When receiving from the printing apparatus information indicating that the combination of the designated print medium and the print medium related to manual feed is inappropriate, display means for displaying that the print medium related to manual feed is inappropriate. A printing control device. A printer driver that causes a computer to function as a print control device that outputs print data to a printing device that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of types of print media,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
Output means for outputting information indicating whether or not the designated print medium is a specific print medium to the printing apparatus together with the print data;
When information indicating that the combination of the designated print medium and the manual print medium is inappropriate is received from the printing apparatus, the computer functions as display means for displaying that the manual print medium is inappropriate. A printer driver characterized by that. A printer driver that causes a computer to function as a print control device that outputs print data to a printing device that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of types of print media,
An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to specify a print medium;
Output means for outputting information indicating a designated print medium to the printing apparatus together with the print data;
When information indicating that the combination of the designated print medium and the manual print medium is inappropriate is received from the printing apparatus, the computer functions as display means for displaying that the manual print medium is inappropriate. A printer driver characterized by that.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the printer driver according to claim 4 is recorded. A printing device that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of types of print media according to print data sent from a print control device,
A discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the type of the print medium relating to the manual feed is a specific print medium;
Receiving means for receiving information about the type of print medium targeted by the print data from the print control device;
A control means for comparing the print medium targeted by the print data with the print medium according to the manual feed, and determining whether the combination of the two is appropriate;
A printing apparatus comprising: notification means for notifying the print control apparatus when the combination of the two is determined to be inappropriate. A printing device that performs manual feed printing on a plurality of types of print media according to print data sent from a print control device,
A discriminating means for discriminating the type of print medium relating to manual feed;
Receiving means for receiving information about the type of print medium targeted by the print data from the print control device;
A control means for comparing the print medium targeted by the print data with the print medium according to the manual feed, and determining whether the combination of the two is appropriate;
A printing apparatus comprising: notification means for notifying the print control apparatus when the combination of the two is determined to be inappropriate. The printing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specific type of print medium determined by the determination unit is a disk-type recording medium.

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