JP2006244150A - Printing system and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce printing setting work of document data made by an application software, and to reduce printing time in reprinting. <P>SOLUTION: The printing system equipped with a printing device capable of operating the application software operatable on a host computer, is provided with: a means wherein a plurality of the host computers and the printing device share a storage region; a means for monitoring writing of a file into the shared storage region; a means for managing the application software starting in accordance with a file extension; a means for starting the application software; a means for storing a printing setting value for each of the application softwares; a means for executing printing based on the setting value; a means for storing and holding printing image data; and a means for managing the image data stored and held. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system that performs a printing process by setting a printing operation based on predetermined setting information for print data created by a computer connected to a network, and a control method therefor.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing system that uses an application software to create print data in an apparatus such as a personal computer and performs a desired print output by a printer apparatus shared via a network has been widely used. In such a printing system, it is necessary to start an application on a PC and perform print settings and a print instruction from the application software. Therefore, driver software for performing print output on each PC is required.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151867 has proposed a printing system that can easily perform print settings and perform print processing of print data in a unified manner.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-249840

  However, in the printing system in the above conventional example, it is necessary to install driver software for printing on a printing apparatus on each PC, or when printing a file that has already been created, the user of each PC There is a problem that the user is troublesome and inefficient, such as having to start the application software and make print settings.

  Even if the print settings can be simplified and the print processing of the print data can be performed uniformly, it is necessary to send the file created by the application to the printing device and form the image data for printing each time. For this reason, there is a problem that printing takes time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points. The object of the present invention is to create a printer by installing driver software on each PC and application software by enabling printing using application software on the printing apparatus side. Reducing the print setting work of the document data, and further storing the image data once formed for printing in the printing apparatus, and enabling printing in various print modes using the stored image data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system excellent in convenience and a control method thereof that can improve a user's work efficiency by shortening the time required for reprinting.

  To achieve the above object, a printing system according to claim 1 of the present invention is a printing apparatus capable of operating a plurality of host computers that create document data by application software and application software that operates on the host computer. A storage area sharing means for sharing a storage area between the plurality of host computers and the printing apparatus, and a document data file created by application software in a storage area shared by the storage area sharing means. Monitoring means for monitoring writing, starting application software management means for managing application software to be started according to the extension of the document data file, and application information based on information managed by the management means Generated by the printing means, a print setting value storage means for storing print setting values for each application, a printing means for executing printing based on the setting values stored in the print setting storage means, and the printing means Image storage means for storing and holding the printed image data, and document management means for managing the image data stored in the image storage means.

  Further, the printing system according to claim 2 is a data erasing unit for deleting a document data file written in a storage area shared by the storage area sharing unit after the print image data is stored in the image storage unit. It is characterized by having.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the printing system includes setting information stored in the print setting value storage means and setting means for changing the setting information stored in the activated application software management means.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing system according to the fourth aspect, wherein the print data selection unit selects image data managed by the document management unit, the print mode setting unit sets a print mode, the print data selection unit, and the print mode. It has a printing means for executing printing based on the contents instructed by the setting means.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system control method comprising: a plurality of host computers that create document data using application software; and a printing apparatus that can operate application software that operates on the host computer. The storage area sharing step for sharing the storage area between the plurality of host computers and the printing device, and the document data file created by the application software being written to the storage area shared by the storage area sharing step. A monitoring step for monitoring, a startup application software management step for managing application software to be started according to the extension of the document data file, and an application based on the information managed in the management step. Generated by the start step for starting the application software, the print setting value storing step for storing the print setting value for each application, the printing step for executing printing based on the setting value stored in the print setting storing step, and the printing step An image storage step for storing and holding the printed image data, and a document management step for managing the image data stored in the image storage step.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system control method for deleting a document data file written in a storage area shared by the storage area sharing step after the print image data is stored and held in the image storage step. A data erasing step is included.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system control method comprising: a setting step for changing the setting information stored in the print setting value storing step and the setting information stored in the startup application software management step. And

  The printing system control method according to claim 8 is a print data selection step for selecting image data managed in the document management step, a print mode setting step for setting a print mode, the print data selection step, and It has a printing step which performs printing based on the contents instructed by the printing mode setting step.

  According to the present embodiment, by copying (copying) a document file to a shared folder shared by the host computer and the printing apparatus, printing can be performed using application software existing on the printing apparatus side. Therefore, it is possible to reduce operations such as installation of driver software on each PC and print setting of document data created by application software. Furthermore, image data formed for printing can be stored and stored in a printing device, and printing in various print modes can be performed using the stored and stored image data, thereby shortening the printing time during reprinting. Therefore, it is possible to provide a convenient printing system that can improve the work efficiency of the user.

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

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an image processing system to which an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied. An image input / output system 100 as an image processing apparatus is an Ethernet (registered trademark) or the like. This is an example of a system connected to host computers (first host computer 601 and second host computer 602 in this embodiment) via a LAN (Local Area Network) 600.

  The image input / output system 100 includes a reader device (reader unit) 200 that performs image data reading processing, a printer device (printer unit) 300 that performs image data output processing, a keyboard that performs image data input / output operations, In addition, an operation unit 150 having a liquid crystal panel for displaying / setting image data and various functions, image data read by controlling the reader device 200, and code data received from the host computers 601 and 602 via the LAN 600 A hard disk drive (HDD) 160 capable of storing / storing image data generated from the computer is mounted, and a control device (controller unit) 110 comprising a single electronic component connected to each component and controlling the component It is configured.

  The reader device 200 includes a document feeding unit (DF unit) 250 that transports document paper, and a scanner unit 210 that optically reads a document image and converts it into image data as an electrical signal. , A paper feed unit 310 having a plurality of stages of paper feed cassettes for storing recording paper, a marking unit (unit) 320 for transferring / fixing image data onto the recording paper, and a sorting process and a stapling process on the printed recording paper And a paper discharge unit (part) 330 for discharging to the outside.

  The control device 110 controls the reader unit 200 to read image data of a document, and controls the printer unit 300 to output the image data to a recording sheet to provide a copy function.

  The scanner function converts image data read from the reader unit 200 into code data and transmits the code data to the host computers 601 and 602 via the network 600. Code data received from the host computer via the network 600 is converted into image data. It has a printer function for conversion and output to the printer unit 300, and other functional blocks.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing details of the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300.

  In the reader unit 200, the original sheets stacked on the original feeding unit 250 are sequentially fed onto the platen glass 211 one by one from the top in accordance with the stacking order, and after a predetermined reading operation is completed by the scanner unit 210, As for the read original paper, the original on the platen glass 211 is discharged to the discharge tray 219. When the original paper is conveyed onto the platen glass 211, the lamp 212 is turned on, then the movement of the optical unit 213 is started, and the original paper is irradiated and scanned from below. The reflected light from the document sheet is guided to a CCD image sensor (hereinafter referred to as “CCD”) 218 via a plurality of mirrors 214, 215, 216 and a lens 217, and the scanned document image is scanned by the CCD 218. Read. The image data read by the CCD 218 is transferred to the controller unit 110 after predetermined processing.

  When the document feeding unit 250 has a document feeding reading function, the document sheets stacked on the document feeding unit 250 pass through the document feeding reading position 240 at a constant speed. In this case, the optical unit 213 moves to the document flow reading position 240, irradiates the document conveyed at a constant speed by the lamp 212, reads the image by the CCD 218 as needed, generates image data, and transfers it to the controller unit 110.

  Next, in the printer unit 300, a laser beam corresponding to the image data output from the controller unit 110 is issued from a laser issuing unit 322 driven by a laser driver 321, and the photosensitive drum 323 is electrostatically charged according to the laser beam. A latent image is formed, and a developer is attached to a portion of the electrostatic latent image by the developing device 324.

  On the other hand, recording paper is fed from any of the cassette 311, the cassette 312, the cassette 313, the cassette 314, and the manual paper feed stage 315 at the timing synchronized with the start of laser light irradiation, and is conveyed to the transfer unit 325 by the conveyance path 331. Then, the developer adhering to the photosensitive drum 323 is transferred to the recording paper. The recording sheet on which the image data is transferred is conveyed to the fixing unit 327 by the conveying belt 326, and the image data is fixed on the recording sheet by the heating / pressurizing process in the fixing unit 327. The recording paper that has passed through the fixing unit 327 passes through the transport path 335 and the transport path 334 and is discharged to the paper discharge bin 328. When the print surface is reversed and discharged to the paper discharge bin 328, the recording paper is guided to the transport path 336 and the transport path 338, from which the recording paper is transported in the reverse direction, passes through the transport path 337 and the transport path 334, and is discharged. It is discharged to a paper bottle 328. Although not shown in the figure, it is possible to mount a paper discharge unit instead of the paper discharge bin. The paper discharge unit bundles the discharged recording paper, sorts the recording paper, and staples the sorted recording paper. And so on.

  When image data is recorded on both sides of a recording sheet, after passing through the fixing unit 327, the recording sheet is guided from the conveying path 336 to the conveying path 333 by the flapper 329, and then the recording sheet is conveyed in the reverse direction. The flapper 329 is guided to the conveyance path 338 and the refeed conveyance path 332. The recording sheet guided to the refeed conveyance path 332 passes through the conveyance path 331 and is fed to the transfer unit 325 in the same manner as described above.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating details of the controller unit (control unit) 110 shown in FIG. 1, and the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 110 denotes a controller unit, and the controller unit 110 is connected to a reader unit 200 that is an image input device and a printer unit 300 that is an image output device, and on the other hand, is connected to a LAN 600 and a public line (WAN) 650. Thus, input / output of image information and device information is performed.

  A controller 111 controls the entire system with a CPU. A RAM 112 is a system work memory for the CPU 111 to operate, and is also an image memory for temporarily storing image data. A ROM 113 functions as a boot ROM and stores a system boot program. A hard disk drive (HDD) 160 can store system software, image data, and the like. Reference numeral 114 denotes a shared folder, which shares a storage area with a host computer (separate figures 601 and 602) connected on the LAN 600, and each can hold a readable / writable data file. An operation unit I / F 116 functions as an interface unit with the operation unit 150 and outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 150 to the operation unit 150. Also, it plays a role of transmitting information input by the user of the system from the operation unit 150 to the CPU 111. Reference numeral 120 denotes a network, which is connected to the LAN 600 to input / output information. Reference numeral 121 denotes a modem which is connected to a public line (WAN) 650 to input / output information. The above devices are arranged on the system bus 117. Reference numeral 115 denotes an image bus I / F (Image Bus I / F), which is a bus bridge that connects the system bus 117 and an image bus 118 that transfers image data at high speed, and converts the data structure. Reference numeral 118 denotes an image bus, which is composed of a PCI bus or IEEE1394. The following devices are arranged on the image bus 118. A raster image processor (RIP) 123 develops the PDL code into a bitmap image. An image compression unit 124 compresses and decompresses multi-valued image data using JPEG and binary image data using JBIG, MMR, and MH. A device I / F unit 125 connects the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300, which are image input / output devices, and the controller unit 110, and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data. An image processing unit 126 corrects, processes, and edits input image data.

  FIG. 4 is a process schematic diagram of the file monitoring unit 402 when printing a document file written in the shared folder 114 by the host computer in this system.

  The image input / output system 100 is connected to a host computer (a first host computer 601 and a second host computer 602 in the present embodiment) via a LAN (Local Area Network) 600 such as Ethernet (registered trademark). The image input / output system 100 includes an operation unit 150 having a keyboard for inputting / outputting image data, a liquid crystal panel for displaying / setting image data and various functions, and an HDD 160 for storing / saving system software and image data. have. The HDD 160 includes a shared folder 114 and an image storage unit 400. In the present embodiment, the shared folder 114 exists in the image input system apparatus, but may exist in other devices (for example, host computers 601 and 602) existing on the network.

  A document file 401 is a file created by application software on the host computers 601 and 602, and is copied to a storage area visible as the shared folder 114 on the host computers 601 and 602. On the image input / output system apparatus, the file monitoring unit 402 monitors whether a file has been written to the shared folder 114. When the file monitoring unit 402 detects that a file has been written to the shared folder 114, the file monitoring unit 402 refers to the file / startup application association information 403 to identify application software to be started on the image input / output system. In the file / startup application association information 403, application software that can be started on the image input / output system is registered, and an application to be started is specified by extracting the extension of the written file and referring to the information. . In the file / startup application association information 403, information for specifying the print setting value 405 of the application software 404 to be started is also described. Based on this information, the file monitoring unit 402 starts up the application software 404 and issues a print instruction. I do. When printing is instructed, the application software 404 forms a print image using driver software existing in the image input / output system 100, and the formed image data is sent to the image storage unit 400 through the print 406 and the document management unit 900. Is stored and stored as an image data file 407. The stored and stored image data file 407 is managed by the document management unit 900, and the stored and stored image data can be manipulated by referring to the document management unit.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the file / startup application association information 403.

  The file / startup application association information 403 stores application software to be started and print setting information of the started application software in association with each other based on the file extension. When the file monitoring unit 402 detects a file in the shared folder 114, the file monitoring unit 402 extracts the extension of the written file, and searches the file / startup application association information 403 for content that matches the extracted extension. The application software to be started and the print setting information of the application software to be started are specified. The file monitoring unit 402 instructs printing processing based on the specified information. The file / startup application association information 403 can be edited by input from the operation unit 150.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data structure example of the print setting information.

  The print setting information is created for each application, and stores information such as the output paper size, the number of copies, and the orientation of the print paper. The values stored in the print setting information are used as the print setting values. The print setting information can also be edited by input from the operation unit 150 as with the file / startup application association information 403.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a management structure of the document management unit.

  The document management unit 900 flexibly supports various print data transmitted from the host computers 601 and 602, so that a folder management unit 901, a job management unit 902, a binder management unit 903, a document management unit 904, and a page management unit 905 are provided. Each has management information (attribute value). When the print data of the document file 401 in this embodiment is stored and saved, one job management unit 902, one binder management unit 903, and one document management unit 904 are used, and each printed page is managed by page management. It is associated with the part.

  The document management unit 900 includes one or a plurality of folder management units 901, and management information of the folder management unit 901 is stored. The folder management unit 901 includes one or a plurality of job management units 902, and stores management information of the job management unit 902. The job management unit 902 includes one or a plurality of binder management units 903, and management information of the binder management unit 902 is stored. The binder management unit 903 includes one or a plurality of document management units 904 and stores management information of the document management unit 904. The document management unit 904 includes one or a plurality of page management units 905 and stores management information of the page management unit 905. The page management unit 905 is associated with print image data for each page stored in the image storage unit 400. It is possible to reproduce the job 814 submitted at the time of image accumulation from the information stored in the document management unit 900 and the image data stored in the image storage unit 400. It is also possible to perform operations different from the job at the time of submission by resetting the stored information.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of processing of print image data stored and stored in the document management unit in this system.

  The print image data 407 accumulated and stored in the image storage unit 400 is managed by the document management unit 900. Information managed by the document management unit 900 is displayed on the operation unit 150, and a document to be reprinted is selected from the operation unit 150. Furthermore, the print setting at the time of reprinting can be performed by the operation unit 150, and the reprinting process is performed by the stored image printing unit 408 based on the information set here.

  The reprinting process uses print image data that has already been created via application software. If image conversion processing such as scaling processing that changes the size of the image data does not take place, the print image data is used as it is. Therefore, the time required for reprinting can be reduced.

  FIG. 9 is a processing flowchart in the file monitoring unit 402 when printing a document file written in the shared folder by the host computer.

  In step S <b> 1001, it is determined whether the document file 401 exists in the shared folder 114. If the document file 401 does not exist, monitoring is continued. If it is determined that the document file 401 exists, the process advances to step S1002 to extract a file extension from the document file name written in the shared folder 114. In S1003, the file / startup application association information 403 is searched for the extension extracted in S1002. In S1004, it is determined whether or not related information exists as a result of the search in S1003. If there is no related information, the process advances to step S1013 to delete the document file 401 written in the shared folder 114, and the process ends. If it is determined in S1004 that related information exists, the print setting information is searched in S1005. In step S1006, it is determined whether print setting information exists as a result of the search in step S1004. If there is no print setting information, the process advances to step S1013 to delete the document file 401 written in the shared folder 114, and the process ends. If it is determined in S1006 that the print setting information exists, print settings of the printer driver used in S1007 are performed. In step S1008, the application software is activated by designating the document file 401 written in the shared folder 114. In step S1009, a print instruction is issued to the activated application software to execute print processing. In step S1010, a print image is formed based on the print setting value set in step S1007 in the printer driver software in response to a print instruction from the application software. In step S1011, the image formed in step S1010 is stored in the image storage unit 400 through the document management unit 900. The storage destination information can be instructed by print setting information. If there is no instruction, the storage management destination is assigned by the document management unit 900. In S1012, a printing process for printing the image formed in S1010 on actual output paper is executed. When these processes are completed, the document file 401 written in the shared folder 114 is deleted in S1013, and the process ends. By a series of these processes, the file written in the shared folder 114 can be printed and the printed image can be stored and stored.

  FIG. 10 is a processing flowchart in the stored image printing unit 408 when printing the print image data stored and saved in the document management unit.

  In step S2001, it is determined whether an instruction to print the stored image has been issued. When the stored image printing is not instructed, an instruction to print the stored image is awaited. When the storage image printing is instructed in S2001, the storage image selection process is executed in S2002. In the stored image selection process, information managed by the document management unit 900 is used to select an image to be printed from the contents displayed on the operation unit 150. In step S2003, it is determined whether an instruction to change print settings has been issued. If the print setting change instruction is not given, it is determined in S2005 whether or not a print start instruction has been given. If an instruction to change print settings is issued in S2003, print setting input processing is executed in S2004. The information input here is stored and held in the print setting value 405 and is referred to during print processing. In step S2005, it is determined whether an instruction to start printing has been issued. If printing start is not instructed, the process proceeds to S2007 to determine whether cancellation is instructed. If the start of printing is instructed in S2005, the process proceeds to S2006 to execute the printing process and end the process. In S2007, it is determined whether an instruction to cancel is issued. If cancellation is not instructed, the process waits for input from the user, and a series of processes such as determination of whether or not an instruction to change print settings in S2003 has been issued is repeated. If cancellation is instructed in S2007, the process ends. With this series of processing, it is possible to reprint image data formed for printing stored and stored in the image storage unit 400 through the document management unit 900.

1 is a block diagram showing an example of an image processing system according to the present invention. 2 is a detailed view of a reader unit and a printer unit of the image processing system according to the present invention. FIG. It is a block block diagram which shows the detail of the controller part as an electronic component concerning this invention. It is a processing schematic diagram when printing a document file written in a shared folder by a host computer according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the file / starting application correlation information concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the print setting information concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of management structure of the document management part concerning this invention. It is a processing schematic diagram of print image data stored and saved in a document management unit according to the present invention. It is a process flowchart at the time of printing the document file written in the shared folder by the host computer concerning this invention. 4 is a processing flowchart of print image data stored and stored in a document management unit according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 Image Input / Output System 110 Control Device (Controller Unit)
150 Operation unit 160 HDD
200 Reader device (leader part)
210 Scanner unit 250 Document feeding unit (DF unit)
300 Printer device (printer part)
310 Paper feed unit 320 Marking unit 330 Paper discharge unit 600 LAN
601 PC (first host computer)
602 PC (second host computer)

Claims (8)

  In a printing system comprising a plurality of host computers for creating document data by application software and a printing apparatus capable of operating application software running on the host computer, a storage area in the plurality of host computers and the printing apparatus According to the extension of the document data file, the storage area sharing means for sharing the document data, the monitoring means for monitoring that the document data file created by the application software has been written to the storage area shared by the storage area sharing means, Starting application software managing means for managing application software to be started, starting means for starting application software based on information managed by the managing means, and print setting for each application Print setting value storage means for storing, printing means for executing printing based on the setting value stored in the print setting storage means, image storage means for storing and holding print image data generated by the printing means, A printing system comprising document management means for managing image data stored in the image storage means.   A printing system comprising data erasing means for deleting a document data file written in a storage area shared by the storage area sharing means after print image data is stored in the image storage means.   A printing system comprising: setting information stored in the print setting value storage means; and setting means for changing the setting information stored in the startup application software management means.   Print data selection means for selecting image data managed by the document management means, print mode setting means for setting a print mode, printing based on contents instructed by the print data selection means and the print mode setting means. A printing system comprising printing means for executing.   In a printing system comprising a plurality of host computers for creating document data by application software and a printing apparatus capable of operating application software running on the host computer, a storage area in the plurality of host computers and the printing apparatus A storage area sharing step for sharing the document data, a monitoring step for monitoring that the document data file created by the application software has been written to the storage area shared by the storage area sharing step, and an extension of the document data file A startup application software management step for managing the application software to be started, a startup step for starting the application software based on the information managed in the management step, and an application A print setting value storing step for storing print setting values for each application; a printing step for executing printing based on the setting values stored in the print setting storing step; and storing print image data generated by the printing step And a document management step for managing image data stored in the image storage step.   A printing system control comprising: a data erasing step of deleting a document data file written in a storage area shared by the storage area sharing step after the print image data is stored and held in the image storage step Method.   A control method for a printing system, comprising: a setting step for changing setting information stored in the print setting value storing step and setting information stored in the startup application software management step.   A print data selection step for selecting image data managed in the document management step, a print mode setting step for setting a print mode, and printing based on the contents instructed by the print data selection step and the print mode setting step. A printing system control method comprising: a printing step to be executed.

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