JP2006244239A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a usable medium type and an unusable medium type easy to understand when switching ink so as to enhance using convenience for a user. <P>SOLUTION: All the medium types are displayed even when a kind of the ink is switched, and are displayed to discriminate the usable medium type from the unusable medium type. When the unusable medium type is selected, a message explaining how to make the medium usable is displayed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a print system capable of switching the type of ink to be used, a control method therefor, and a recording medium.

  In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for print quality of printers, such as “I want to make black more clear” and “I want to expand the color reproduction range”. In the case of an ink jet printer that prints by ejecting ink on paper, these demands are demands on the performance of the ink used. In the case of a general color ink jet printer, an image created with a combination of RGB (red, green, blue) on the host is printed with CMKY (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) ink by a control program such as a printer driver. Convert to color data and print. In order to meet the above-mentioned demands for quality, techniques such as increasing the types of ink and combining dark ink and thin ink have been used. For example, in the case of a line drawing, dark black ink is used to print the line clearly, and in the case of a photograph, switching to a thin black ink or a gray ink to increase the gradation of the dark part can be considered.

  However, since the print head for ejecting ink of an ink jet printer is very expensive, the number of print heads cannot simply be increased even if the type of ink used is increased. Therefore, there is a system that performs printing by appropriately replacing a suitable ink from a plurality of inks according to the type of printed matter (type of original image, media type, print quality, etc.).

  On the other hand, ink has suitability / non-suitability for the media type, and for example, it is known that glossiness is impaired when printing on glossy paper using matte black ink. Therefore, in order to indicate which media type cannot be printed according to the current ink type installed in the inkjet printer, the media type that can be selected on the printer driver is changed. Display) (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

FIG. 2 shows an example of a printer driver screen in which the media type options change depending on the ink type. If you switch between photo black ink and matte black ink, assuming that plain paper and coated paper can be used with both inks, but glossy paper and semi-glossy paper can only be used with photo black ink, In the case of mat black ink, glossy paper and semi-gloss are not displayed as shown in FIG.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-213032

  However, in the above-described conventional example, the unusable media type is hidden, so the user does not notice that there is a hidden media type. Even if it is not hidden, if it is in a non-selectable state, it cannot be easily known how the media type can be used. Also, if there is a print job with a media type set in advance and it cannot be used because the ink has been switched after that, it will not be included in the printer driver media type options and will be rounded to an unintended setting. There was a bug that it was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. The purpose of the present invention is to display the usable media type and the unusable media type in an easy-to-understand manner when the ink is switched. It is to improve.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a means for acquiring information on the type of ink mounted on a printer, a means for storing correspondence information between the ink type and the media type, and a control program such as the printer driver 13. The display unit includes a display unit configured to display the usable media type and the unsuitable media type in accordance with the ink type information.

  According to the present invention, in addition to the constituent elements of the first invention, in the printer driver, means for determining whether or not the media type selected by the user is usable, and information to the user according to the determination result. Information notification means, and if the user deliberately chooses a media type that is not suitable for use, a message display or voice message will be sent to convey the message “How can it be used?” It has a function of presenting operation methods by a guide or the like.

  According to the present invention, even if the ink to be used is changed, all media types are displayed and whether or not they can be used is displayed, so that the user can easily determine which media type can be used. become able to.

  Now, one embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a pudding system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a component related to printing mounted on the host side such as a personal computer. 11 is application software for creating a print document, 12 is an OS print service that mediates print data in response to a print request from the application software 11, and 13 is a printer 20 that receives print data according to a request from the OS print service 12. A printer driver for converting data into a processable format. Reference numeral 14 denotes a media information DB that stores information on which ink type can be used for each media type and image processing information used when creating print data. A system spooler 15 temporarily stores the print data between the OS print service 12 and the printer driver 13 until the print data is transferred to the printer 20.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a printer for printing print data created by the printer driver 13 and its components. Reference numeral 21 denotes a communication interface that manages data communication with the host 10. Through this, print data and various print condition commands are received from the host 10. In general, a network interface or USB corresponds to this. A CPU 22 controls the entire printer 20. Further, the CPU 22 expands the received print data into drawing data in accordance with programs and data stored in the RAM 23 and the ROM 24. The drawing data thus created is transmitted to the print engine 26 via the engine I / F 25 and printed on the printing surface of the paper. Reference numeral 27 denotes an ink tank. The engine I / F 25 can detect what kind of ink tank 27 is mounted by an electrical, mechanical, or optical discrimination means provided in the ink tank 27. it can.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart when the printer driver 13 to which the present invention is applied displays a setting screen. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the host 10 and the printer 20 can perform bidirectional communication and can acquire information on the ink type of the printer 20. Therefore, first, information on the current ink type is acquired from the printer 20 in S11. In other words, the printer driver 13 transmits a request command for acquiring information on the ink type to the printer 20. The printer 13 uses the engine I / F 25 to read the ink type in the ink tank 27 by electrical, mechanical, and optical means, and returns the ink type. In this embodiment, information on either photo black ink or matte black ink is returned.

In step S12, information on all media types supported by the printer driver 10 and which ink type each media type can use is read from the media information DB. here,
○ Photo black ink Plain paper, coated paper, glossy paper, semi-gloss paper ○ Matte black ink When using plain paper, coated paper and matte black ink, glossy paper and semi-glossy paper cannot be used.

  Next, in S13, it is determined whether or not each media type is used based on the ink type information acquired from the printer. If it cannot be used, the process proceeds to S14, and a warning icon indicating that it cannot be used is added to the media type option. After performing the series of operations of S12 to S14 for all media types, the setting screen of the printer driver 10 is displayed.

  The media type setting screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed in this manner. In FIG. Are photo black inks, and all four media types can be used. On the other hand, b. Is a case of matte black ink, and a warning icon is added and displayed for the choices of glossy paper and semi-glossy paper that cannot be used.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing of the printer driver 10 when the user deliberately selects the media type on which this warning icon is displayed. If the media type is changed, the setting value after the change is acquired, and it is determined whether or not a warning icon is added to the setting value in S22. If there is a warning icon, the process proceeds to S23 to display a warning message dialog as shown in FIG. As a result, it is possible to easily determine how the user can use a media type that is currently in an unusable state.

  As described above, by making all media type options selectable and displaying them so that usable media types and unusable items can be distinguished according to the ink type, user convenience is improved. Can do. Further, when a media type that cannot be used is selected, it is possible to further improve the convenience for the user by indicating how to deal with the media type so that it can be used.

  In this embodiment, the means for acquiring the type of ink attached to the printer has been described on the premise that the host and the printer can communicate bidirectionally. However, this patent is not limited to this configuration, and bidirectional communication is not possible. If this is not possible, the printer driver 13 is provided with means for the user to set the ink type himself, means for storing the setting information, and means for acquiring the ink type from the storage means. You can also. In this case, the user visually confirms the type of ink attached to the printer 20 and sets the information using the ink type setting means on the printer driver 13.

  In this embodiment, the warning icon is used as a means for displaying the media type that can be used and the media type that cannot be used. However, of course, this patent is not limited to this, It is possible to combine one or a plurality of expressions such as changing the color of characters and backgrounds, changing the type and size of blinking and characters, and adding marks such as icons.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the above-described embodiment, even if the ink to be used is changed, all media types are displayed and whether or not the media can be used is displayed. It becomes possible to easily determine whether the media type can be used. In addition, when the user wants to use a media type that cannot be used at present, the user can accurately instruct how to use the media type.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing components of the printer system of the present invention. Media type selection screen for printer drivers according to the prior art. The flowchart figure in the case of adding a warning icon to the choice of media type. The printer driver media type selection screen according to this patent. The flowchart figure at the time of selecting the choice of the media type with a warning icon. Example warning dialog.

Explanation of symbols

10 Components related to printing on the host side 11 Application software 12 OS printing service 13 Printer driver 14 Media information DB
15 System Spooler 20 Printer 21 Communication Interface 22 Printer CPU
23 Printer RAM
24 Printer ROM
25 Engine I / F
26 Print Engine 27 Ink Tank 31 Warning Dialog Example

Claims (2)

A printing system capable of switching the type of ink to be used,
Means for acquiring the type of ink mounted on the printer;
Means for storing correspondence information between the ink type and the media type;
Means for determining whether the media type is usable in the type of ink mounted on the printer;
What is claimed is: 1. A printing system comprising: a display unit configured to display a usable media type and a media type unsuitable for use on a screen for selecting a media type on a print control program.   In addition to the constituent elements of claim 1, in the media type selection screen on the print control program, means for determining that the user has selected a media type that is not suitable for use, and depending on the result of the determination means The print system according to claim 1, further comprising an information notification unit for notifying a user.

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