JP2006344210A - Terminal device, its control method, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a terminal device, its control method, and a computer program for determining whether an output destination printer has a desired print condition (print function) or not during execution of print processing and deciding whether the print processing is carried out or not after confirming the determination result from a user. <P>SOLUTION: A temporary file is generated when image data are outputted to be printed, and the image data are temporarily stored in the temporary file (S18 and S19). Print information is acquired from the image data stored in the temporary file (S20) to be compared with device information, which is acquired from the output destination printer in S21, (S22), and the comparison result is displayed to the user. The user selects whether the print processing is carried out or not based on the comparison result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal device, a terminal device control method, and a computer program.

  In recent years, by connecting a plurality of computer terminals and a plurality of printer devices using a network such as an in-house LAN (Local Area Network), the printer devices can be shared and used by each computer terminal. 2. Description of the Related Art Print processing systems that can select and use an apparatus are widely used.

  In such a print processing system, since various types of printers coexist, it has not been possible to determine whether the printer can perform a desired print process. For example, it has not been possible to determine whether the output destination matches the printer driver installed in the computer terminal, whether color printing is possible, or the like.

  In such a case, the printing process is erroneously performed by a printer device that does not support the printing process, which may cause inconvenience for the user. For example, if the output destination printer does not support the printer driver installed in the computer terminal, dust data is printed. If such inconvenience occurs, it naturally becomes a waste of paper, which is disadvantageous for the user.

  Therefore, a print processing system has been proposed that can avoid the inconvenience caused by the absence of such information about the output destination information.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 proposes a printing system that confirms each version of a printing language processing unit of a printing apparatus and a printer driver corresponding to the printing language processing unit and determines execution of printing processing according to the confirmation result.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, an output destination printing apparatus can be automatically set from print data, and an optimum printer is searched during a series of operations from a print command to printing, and user's work efficiency is improved. There has been proposed an information processing method capable of increasing.

Patent Document 3 proposes a printer search system that can easily search for a network printer that meets desired conditions.
JP-A-11-212742 JP 2001-125761 A JP 2002-259097 A

  However, the above-described invention has the following problems.

  In the invention described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to determine the matching point of the printer driver, but other print information, for example, whether color printing is possible or not, whether double-sided printing is possible or not is possible. Since such information cannot be obtained, information on printing conditions desired by the user cannot be acquired.

  Further, in the invention described in Patent Document 3, it is possible to search for a printer device that satisfies a desired condition, but it takes time and effort to input the condition each time it is searched based on each condition.

  In the invention described in Patent Document 2, a list of output destination printers is displayed for each printing process, which may confuse the user in some cases.

  In addition, even if not all the printing functions are realized, the user may accept it and execute the printing process. For example, if the user desires color printing but the output destination printer can only perform monochrome printing, the printing process may be performed at the output destination if monochrome printing is acceptable. This determination changes depending on the image data to be printed and the type of printing function that is not realized, and is very delicate and difficult, so it is necessary to ask for the user's determination.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and determines whether the output destination printer has a desired printing condition (printing function) when executing the printing process, and confirms the determination result to the user. It is an object of the present invention to provide a terminal device, a control method for the terminal device, and a computer program that determine whether or not to execute print processing after that.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a terminal device in a print processing system including a terminal device and a printing device, and includes a first process for storing image data from the terminal device, and the stored image data. A second process of acquiring print information that is information about the print function of the image data, and a third process of acquiring apparatus information that is information about a print function that can be realized by the printing apparatus that is the output destination And a fourth process for comparing and determining the print information acquired in the second process and the apparatus information acquired in the third process, and a result of the comparison determination of the fourth process, When the device information includes all of the print information, a print process is performed by transmitting the stored image data to the printing device that is the output destination, and the device information is stored in the print information. In the fifth case, information on a printing function that is not included is added and displayed to the outside, and an instruction input from the outside is accepted to determine whether or not to execute subsequent printing processing. And processing.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the terminal device according to the first aspect, in the fifth process, when the device information does not include all of the print information, the printing device that is the output destination A first print process continuation input for continuing the print process, a first suspend input for suspending the print process, and an output destination change input for performing the print process other than the printing apparatus serving as the output destination. One of the instruction inputs is accepted.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the terminal device according to the fourth aspect, when the instruction to change the output destination is received in the fifth processing, the device information about the printing device in the print processing system is obtained. The sixth process to be acquired, the seventh process for comparing and determining the apparatus information of the printing apparatus acquired in the sixth process, and the print information, and the result of the comparison determination of the seventh process , When there is one or more printing apparatuses in which the apparatus information includes all of the printing information, an eighth process of enumerating them as compatible printing apparatuses, and among the listed compatible printing apparatuses, external And a ninth process for performing a printing process by transmitting the stored image data to the compatible printing apparatus selected from the above.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the terminal device according to the third aspect, as a result of the comparison determination of the seventh process, when there is no one of the printing apparatuses in which the apparatus information includes all the print information A tenth process for enumerating the printing apparatuses with information about printing functions not included, and an eleventh process for determining whether or not to execute a subsequent printing process by receiving an instruction input from the outside. , Is executed.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the terminal device according to the fourth aspect, in the eleventh processing, a second print processing continuation input for continuing the print processing in any of the listed printing devices, and printing One of the instruction inputs of the second interruption input for interrupting the process is accepted.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the terminal device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the device information is acquired using SNMP.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the terminal device according to any one of the first to sixth aspects has a virtual port.

  The invention according to claim 8 is a terminal device control method in a print processing system comprising a terminal device and a printing device, wherein the terminal stores image data from the terminal device, and A second step of acquiring print information that is information about the print function of the image data from the stored image data, and device information that is information about the print function that can be realized by the printing device that is the output destination A fourth step of comparing and determining the print information acquired in the second step and the device information acquired in the third step, and the fourth step As a result of the comparison determination, if the device information includes all the print information, print processing is performed by transmitting the stored image data to the printing device that is the output destination, If the printing device information does not include all of the print information, information about the print function that is not included is added, the fact is displayed outside, and the subsequent print processing is executed by accepting an external instruction input A fifth step of determining the presence or absence of.

  A ninth aspect of the invention is the terminal device control method according to the eighth aspect, wherein if the device information does not include all of the print information in the fifth step, the terminal device is the output destination. A first print processing continuation input for continuing printing processing in the printing device; a first suspension input for suspending printing processing; and an output destination change input for performing printing processing other than the printer device serving as the output destination And receiving an instruction input of either of the above.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the method for controlling a terminal device according to the ninth aspect, in the fifth step, when the instruction to change the output destination is received, the printing apparatus in the print processing system Comparison between the sixth step of acquiring device information, the seventh step of comparing and determining the device information of the printing device acquired in the sixth step, and the print information, and the seventh step As a result of the determination, if there is one or more printing devices whose device information includes all of the printing information, an eighth step of listing them as compatible printing devices; and And a ninth step of performing print processing by transmitting the stored image data to the adaptive printing apparatus selected from the outside.

  The invention according to claim 11 is the terminal device control method according to claim 10, wherein as a result of the comparison determination in the seventh step, there is at least one printing device in which the device information includes all the printing information. If not, an eleventh step of enumerating the printing apparatus with information about printing functions not included, and an eleventh step of determining whether or not to execute a subsequent printing process by receiving an external instruction input The process is characterized by comprising:

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the terminal device control method according to the eleventh aspect, in the eleventh step, a second print processing continuation input for continuing the print processing in any of the listed printing devices. And a second interrupt input for interrupting the printing process are received.

  A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is a computer program that causes a computer to function as the terminal device according to any one of the first to seventh aspects.

  According to the present invention, when performing a printing process, it is automatically determined whether the output destination printer has a printing function necessary for the printing process. If the print process is executed and the required print function is not satisfied, a message to that effect is displayed to the user (print process instructor), and whether or not to continue the print process with the current output destination printer, or other Therefore, it is possible to suppress useless print processing from being executed. Also, since the printing function that is not satisfied is announced, the user accepts it even if all the printing conditions are not satisfied (for example, when color printing is expected but monochrome printing is acceptable, expecting staple processing) However, it is possible to contribute to the user because he / she asks the user to execute the printing process.

<First Embodiment>
Hereinafter, a first embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Print processing system>
FIG. 1 shows a print processing system of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, in the print processing system of the present embodiment, a plurality of computer terminals 10 and a plurality of printer devices 20 are connected via a network 30. Note that the numbers of computer terminals 10 and printer devices 20 to be connected are not particularly limited.

<Internal configuration of computer terminal>
FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the computer terminal 10 in the print processing system of FIG. The computer terminal 10 includes a CPU 11, an application unit 12, a printer spooler 13, a printer driver holding unit 14, and a port monitor 15.

  A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 performs overall control of the computer terminal 10. The application unit 12 holds an application that can be executed by the computer terminal 10. Here, the application holding unit 12 holds at least a printer application. The printer application executes an operation related to printing of image data.

  When receiving a print request for image data from the printer application 12, the printer spooler 13 executes spool processing. The spool process is a storage process for temporarily storing the image data in an external storage such as a hard disk (HDD), loading the printer driver from the printer driver holding unit 14, and converting the image data into the printer language of the printer driver. This is a series of processing such as conversion processing for conversion and transmission processing for sequentially transmitting image data to the printer device 20 via the port monitor 15 in accordance with the progress of the printing processing in the printer device 20. Further, when executing the printing process, a print function to be described later is called and an instruction is given to the port monitor 15. In addition, the printer port 16 (printer device 20) used immediately before is backed up, and unless the user sets the output destination, print processing is performed using the backed up printer port 16 as the output destination. When the user sets the print output destination, a port setting screen (see FIG. 5) is displayed on the computer terminal 10 by calling an “EnumPort” function described later, and the output destination is selected on this screen. The output destination is switched by setting.

  The printer driver holding unit 14 holds a printer driver. The printer driver is a driver (software) for using the printer device 20, and can convert image data into a printer language corresponding to the printer device 20 operated by the printer driver.

  The port monitor 15 is a module that controls the printer port 16 based on a command from the printer spooler 13 based on a print function. The printer port 16 is a port provided corresponding to each printer device 20.

<Print function>
Next, a print function executed in the port monitor 15 will be described. When the printer spooler 13 calls a print function, the port monitor 15 performs a predetermined processing operation.
The print functions include “AddPort”, “DeletePort”, “EnumPort”, “OpenPort”, “ClosePort”, “StartDocPort”, “EndDocPort”, “WritePort”, and “ReadPort”.

  “Add Port” is a function for adding a new port (printer port 16), and is used for registering the output destination of the printer device 20 when the printer device 20 is connected to the network 30. The user inputs and sets a port name (printer port name) and a setting value (for example, an IP address) of the port through a dialog displayed on the display of the computer terminal 10. An example of a dialog for adding a new port is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows the flow of the AddPort process. When AddPort is executed, a dialog for adding a new port (see FIG. 3) is displayed on the display of the computer terminal 10, and the input of the port name of the new port and the set value of the new port is received from the user (step S101). Then, it is determined whether or not the input port name is already registered (step S102). If the port name has already been registered (step S102 / Yes), the port name will be duplicated, so the message "This port name has been registered" is displayed on the display of the computer terminal 10. Then, an error process that exits the AddPort process is executed (step S104). Further, it is determined whether or not the designated output destination exists with reference to the set value of the input port (step S103), and when it is judged that the designated output destination does not exist (step S103 / No). ), A message that “the specified output destination does not exist” is displayed on the display of the computer terminal 10 and error processing that exits the AddPort processing is executed (step S105). If the input port name has not yet been registered (step S102 / No) and the input output destination exists (step S103 / Yes), a new port additional registration process is executed. (S106).

  “DeletePort” is a function for deleting a registered port (printer port 16), and the user performs a port deletion process through a dialog displayed on the display of the computer terminal 10.

  “EnumPort” is a function for listing a list of ports (printer ports 16) handled by the port monitor 15, and when a user sets a print output destination, a port setting screen as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. call. Thereby, the user can confirm the port which the computer terminal 10 can use.

  “OpenPort” is a function used when starting use of a port (printer port 16) designated by the user. When this function is called, the port monitor 15 performs an open process on the designated port. The open process is an initialization process such as securing a work area and a preparation process.

  “ClosePort” is a function used when the use of the port (printer port 16) used in OpenPort is terminated. When this function is called, the port monitor 15 performs a port closing process. Note that the close process is a process for releasing all system resources allocated by the OpenPort function.

  “StartDocPort” is a function used when executing print processing of image data. When this function is called, the port monitor 15 confirms the connection state with the output destination and confirms whether data transmission is possible. . Also, a task for requesting the start of a print job on the designated port (printer port 16) is executed.

  “EndDocPort” is a function used when the print processing of the image data is finished. When this function is called, the port monitor 15 executes a print job end task on the designated port (printer port 16). Then, the printer apparatus 20 is caused to execute the image data printing process. In the present embodiment, before the printer device 20 executes print processing, print data acquisition information acquisition processing, printer device 20 device information acquisition processing, and print information and device information comparison processing are executed. . This will be described in detail later.

  “Write Port” is a function used when writing image data to a port (printer port 16). When this function is called, the port monitor 15 of the present embodiment creates a temporary file that is a temporary storage file, and writes image data to the created temporary file.

  “ReadPort” is a function used when reading data from a port (printer port 16).

  In the printing process, the printing functions are executed in the order of “StartDocPort”, “WritePort”, and “EndDocPort”, and after calling the function of “EndDocPort”, the printing output process is performed in the printer device 20. The above processing is performed at a port that has been opened by the “OpenPort” function. After the printing processing, the closing processing is performed by “ClosePort”.

<Print processing>
Hereinafter, the printing process of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. 6 and 7 show a print processing flow in the print processing system of the present embodiment.

  When receiving a key input for executing printing of image data from the user on the computer terminal 10 (step S11), the CPU 11 activates a printer application of the application unit 12 (step S12). The printer application transmits image data to be printed and a print request for the image data to the printer spooler 13 (step S13).

  When the printer spooler 13 receives image data to be printed and a print request for the image data from the printer application, the “OpenPort” function displays the previously used output destination port (printer port 16) stored in the printer spooler 13 as a backup. Is used for open processing (step S14). If the user has set the input of the output destination port, the input printer port 16 is opened. Here, the printing process is executed in the printer device 20 connected to the printer port 16 to be opened.

  Next, the printer spooler 13 uses the “StartDocPort” function to check the connection state with the output destination port and execute the print job start request task (step S15). Further, spool processing is performed on the image data to be printed. In the spool process, the image data is temporarily stored in the external storage (step S16), the printer driver is loaded from the printer driver holding unit 14, and the image data is converted into the printer language of the printer driver (step S17).

  After converting the image data into a printer language corresponding to the printer device 20, the printer spooler 13 calls a “WritePort” function. The port monitor 15 creates a temporary file, which is a temporary storage file, by this function (step S18), and writes the image data converted into the printer language into the temporary file (step S19).

  When the writing process of the image data to the temporary file by the WritePort function is completed, the printer spooler 13 calls the “EndDocPort” function and causes the port monitor 15 to execute a print job end task. In the present embodiment, as this end task, acquisition of print information of image data in the temporary file (step S20), acquisition of device information of the printer device 20 (step S21), comparison processing of print information and device information (step) S22) is executed. Hereinafter, this process will be described in detail.

  First, print information acquisition processing is performed on the image data written in the temporary file (step S20). The print information is information about a print function that image data has, and corresponds to information such as printer language information, drawing information, and hardware function information. The drawing information referred to here is information such as whether or not the image data is color image data, some resolutions, and the like. The hardware function information is information on the presence / absence of staples and punch holes, paper size, media type, and the like.

  In the print information acquisition process, the printer language attribute is determined by checking whether or not a character string such as “@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE”, which is a printer language switching command, exists in the image data. The determination of the drawing information is performed by analyzing the above-mentioned printer language command, and the same processing is also performed when determining the hardware function information.

  Next, device information acquisition processing of the printer device 20 set as the output destination is performed (step S21). That is, device information about the printer device 20 connected to the printer port 16 that has been opened in step S14 is acquired. This device information is acquired by using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). The device information referred to here is information about a print function that can be executed by the printer device 20, and more specifically, information about the print function corresponding to the print information of the image data described above. That is.

  Next, a comparison process between the print information of the image data acquired in step S20 and the apparatus information of the printer apparatus 20 acquired in step S21 is performed (step S22). Specifically, a comparison determination is made as to whether or not a print function (color printing etc.) that can be determined from the print information of the image data can be realized in the output destination printer device 20.

  When the device information includes all the print functions that can be determined from the print information, in other words, when all the print functions that can be determined from the print information of the image data can be realized in the output destination printer device 20 (step S23 / Yes). ) Since there is no problem in printing the image data, print output processing is executed in the output destination printer device 20 (step S34). That is, the image data written in the temporary file is transmitted to the output destination printer apparatus 20, and the printing process is executed. After the print output process, the output destination port used is closed (step S36), and the print process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the device information does not include all of the print functions that can be determined from the print information, in other words, all of the print functions that can be determined from the print information of the image data cannot be realized in the output destination printer device 20. In the case (step S23 / No), the user is confirmed so and a dialog for accepting an instruction for the subsequent printing process is displayed on the display of the computer terminal 10 (steps S23 and S24). An example of this dialog is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in this dialog, information about the output destination printer device 20 (“output destination” in the figure) and functions that cannot be realized in the output destination printer device (“ "Unusable functions") are displayed. In addition, three buttons ("Continue", "Change output destination", and "Suspend" in the figure) for receiving an instruction from the user regarding the printing process are displayed. The “unusable function” is based on the determination result of the comparison process in step S22.

  The “Continue” button is an input button for performing print processing in the output destination printer device 20 after recognizing that there is a function that cannot be realized. When the “Continue” button is pressed (step S25 / “Continue”), the port monitor 15 transmits the image data in the temporary file to the current output destination without executing the output destination changing process, and prints it. An output process is executed (step S34). After the print output process, the output destination port used is closed (step S36), and the print process is terminated.

  The “interrupt” button is a button for ending the print processing of the image data. When the “suspend” button is pressed (step S25 / “suspend”), the port monitor 15 cancels the print job and exits the print processing (step S35). At this time, the close process for the output destination port is performed (step S36).

  The “change output destination” button is an input button for searching the printer device 20 in the network 30 and changing the output destination. When the “change output destination” button is pressed (step S25 / “change output destination”), the port monitor 15 searches for the printer device 20 in the network 30 using SNMP (step S26). At the same time, device information is acquired for the searched printer device 20, and the acquired device information is compared with the print information of the image data. Specifically, a comparison determination is made as to whether a printing function (color printing etc.) that can be determined from the print information of the image data can be realized in the searched printer device 20 (step S27).

  As a result of the comparison determination in step S27, if there is a printer device 20 on the network 30 that contains all the print functions that can be determined from the print information, in other words, a printer that can realize all the print functions that can be determined from the print information of the image data. When the apparatus is on the network 30 (step S28 / Yes), such a printer apparatus 20 is displayed as a list, and a dialog for selecting a printer apparatus 20 to execute print output is displayed on the computer terminal 10. It is displayed on the display (step S29). An example of this dialog is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 9, in this dialog, a list of output destinations is displayed together with the position of the output destination printer device 20 and the like, and radio buttons are attached as selection means. In this dialog, when the user selects an arbitrary output destination by pressing a radio button and presses an “OK” button, the output destination printer apparatus is determined.

  When a new output destination printer is determined, the port monitor 15 performs a close process for the port (printer port 16) corresponding to the previous output destination and an open process for the port corresponding to the new output destination ( Step S30). Then, the image data in the temporary file is transmitted to the printer device 20 corresponding to the new output destination port, and print output processing is performed (step S31). After the print output process, the output destination port used is closed (step S36), and the print process is terminated.

  As a result of the comparison determination in step S27, if the printer device 20 that contains all the print functions that can be determined from the print information is not on the network 30, in other words, a printer that can realize all the print functions that can be determined from the print information of the image data. When the apparatus is not on the network 30 (step S28 / No), all the printer apparatuses 20 connected to the network 30 and the printing functions that are not satisfied are displayed as a list, and the printing apparatus 20 can perform printing. A dialog for selecting whether to execute the output is displayed on the display of the computer terminal 10 (step S32). An example of this dialog is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 10, in this dialog, a list of output destinations is displayed together with information such as the positions of the output destinations and information on print functions that are not satisfied with the print information of the image data. It is attached. The “unsatisfied printing function” is based on the determination result of the comparison process in step S27. In this dialog, when the user selects an arbitrary output destination by pressing a radio button and presses a “Yes” button, the output destination printer device 20 is determined. If the “No” button is pressed, the print job is canceled and the printing process is exited.

  When the output destination is determined in the dialog of FIG. 10 (step S33 / Yes), the port monitor 15 responds to the closing process for the port (printer port 16) corresponding to the previous output destination and the new output destination. An open process for the port is performed (step S30). Then, the image data in the temporary file is transmitted to the printer device 20 corresponding to the new output destination port, and print output processing is performed (step S31). After the print output process, the output destination port used is closed (step S36), and the print process is terminated.

  When the “No” button is pressed in the dialog of FIG. 10, that is, when the print process is not executed without selecting the output destination (step S33 / No), the print process is exited (step S35). At this time, the close process for the output destination port is performed (step S36).

  By performing the printing process as described above, when performing the printing process, it automatically determines whether the output destination printer has a printing function necessary for the printing process, and has all the necessary printing functions. If it does, the print process is executed. If the necessary print function is not satisfied, a message to that effect is displayed to the user (print process instructor), and the print process is continued with the current output destination printer. Whether or not to search for another output destination is accepted, so that it is possible to suppress unnecessary printing processing. Also, since the printing function that is not satisfied is announced, the user accepts it even if all the printing conditions are not satisfied (for example, when color printing is expected but monochrome printing is acceptable, expecting staple processing) However, it is possible to contribute to the user because he / she asks the user to execute the printing process. When searching for other output destinations, all printer devices connected to the network are searched together with information on the print functions of the printer devices, and the print functions necessary for the printing process and the prints of the printer devices are searched. Since the search result is displayed after comparing with the function, the user can easily find the printer device that can execute the target print processing.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  The present embodiment is the same as the first embodiment in the configuration of the print processing system and the flow of print processing, but differs from the first embodiment in that the port monitor 15 has a virtual port 17. FIG. 11 shows an internal configuration of the computer terminal 10 in the present embodiment. Comparing FIG. 11 with FIG. 2 showing the internal configuration of the computer terminal 10 of the first embodiment, it can be seen that the port monitor 15 of the present embodiment has a virtual port 17.

  In the present embodiment, at the time of printing, printing processing is performed by dynamically assigning the virtual port 17. By configuring in this way, the following effects can be obtained.

  In the “AddPort” function, port addition processing is not performed even when the addition of a port (printer port 16) is requested. That is. Does not respond to port addition processing. When it is a new port, it is automatically registered in the virtual port 17. Therefore, the printing process can be executed without performing the processing flow as shown in FIG. 4, that is, without performing the registration work such as the port name by the user, and the labor of the registration work can be omitted.

  In the present embodiment, when the “EnumPort” function is called, the virtual port name is returned. The target of “Open Port” and “Close Port” is the virtual port 17.

  The computer terminal 10 in the first and second embodiments described above may be a server device such as a print server or a Web server. The port monitor module in the computer terminal 10 is installed on a storage device such as an HDD (not shown) on various recording media, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), or the like via a network. Provided in download form.

  In addition, the above-mentioned embodiment shows an example of suitable embodiment of this invention, and does not limit embodiment of this invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the above embodiment, device information is acquired using SNMP, but other means capable of acquiring device information may be used.

1 is a diagram illustrating a print processing system. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the computer terminal of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the dialog of new port addition. It is a figure which shows the flow of AddPort processing. It is a figure which shows the dialog of a port setting screen. It is a figure which shows the flow of a printing process. It is a figure which shows the flow of a printing process. It is a figure which shows the dialog which displays that all the printing functions are not satisfy | filled in the present output destination. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a dialog that displays a list of output destinations that are optimal for a print job. It is a figure which shows the dialog which displays the list of all the output destinations. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the computer terminal of 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 Computer Terminal 13 Printer Spooler 15 Port Monitor 17 Virtual Port 20 Printer Device 30 Network

Claims (13)

A terminal device in a print processing system comprising a terminal device and a printing device,
A first process for storing image data from the terminal device;
A second process of acquiring print information, which is information about a print function of the image data, from the stored image data;
A third process of acquiring device information that is information about a print function that can be realized by the printing device that is the output destination;
A fourth process for comparing and determining the print information acquired in the second process and the apparatus information acquired in the third process;
If the device information includes all the print information as a result of the comparison determination in the fourth process, printing is performed by transmitting the stored image data to the printing device that is the output destination. If the device information does not include all of the print information, the information about the print function that is not included is added and displayed to the outside, and an instruction input from the outside is accepted to And a fifth process for determining whether or not to execute the printing process. In the fifth process, when the device information does not include all of the print information,
A first print process continuation input for continuing the print process in the printing apparatus as the output destination;
A first interrupt input for interrupting the printing process;
The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the terminal apparatus receives an instruction input of an output destination change input for performing a printing process other than the printing apparatus serving as the output destination. In the fifth process, when an instruction input for changing the output destination is received,
A sixth process of acquiring the device information for the printing device in the print processing system;
A seventh process for comparing and determining the apparatus information of the printing apparatus acquired in the sixth process and the print information;
As a result of the comparison determination of the seventh process, when there is one or more printing apparatuses in which the apparatus information includes all the print information, an eighth process of listing them as compatible printing apparatuses;
Performing a printing process by transmitting the stored image data to the adaptive printing apparatus selected from the outside among the listed adaptive printing apparatuses. The terminal device according to claim 2. As a result of the comparison determination of the seventh process, when there is no printing device that includes all the printing information, information about a printing function that is not included is added, and the printing device is A tenth process to enumerate;
The terminal device according to claim 3, wherein an eleventh process for determining whether or not to execute a subsequent printing process by receiving an instruction input from the outside is executed. In the eleventh process,
A second print processing continuation input for continuing print processing in any of the listed printing devices;
The terminal device according to claim 4, wherein the terminal device accepts any instruction input of a second interruption input for interrupting the printing process.   The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the device information is acquired using SNMP.   It has a virtual port, The terminal device of any one of Claim 1 to 6 characterized by the above-mentioned. A control method for a terminal device in a print processing system comprising a terminal device and a printing device,
In the terminal,
A first step of storing image data from the terminal device;
A second step of acquiring print information, which is information about a print function of the image data, from the stored image data;
A third step of acquiring device information that is information about a printing function that can be realized by the printing device serving as an output destination;
A fourth step of comparing and determining the print information acquired in the second step and the device information acquired in the third step;
If the device information includes all the print information as a result of the comparison determination in the fourth step, printing is performed by transmitting the stored image data to the printing device that is the output destination. If the device information does not include all of the print information, the information about the print function that is not included is added and displayed to the outside, and an instruction input from the outside is accepted to And a fifth step of determining whether or not to execute the printing process. In the fifth step, when the device information does not include all of the print information,
A first print process continuation input for continuing the print process in the printing apparatus as the output destination;
A first interrupt input for interrupting the printing process;
The terminal device control method according to claim 8, wherein an instruction input of an output destination change input for performing a printing process other than the printer device serving as the output destination is received. In the fifth step, when an instruction input for changing the output destination is received,
A sixth step of acquiring the device information for the printing device in the print processing system;
A seventh step of comparing and determining the device information of the printing device acquired in the sixth step and the print information;
As a result of the comparison determination in the seventh step, when there is one or more printing devices in which the device information includes all the printing information, an eighth step of listing them as compatible printing devices;
A ninth step of performing print processing by transmitting the stored image data to the compatible printing device selected from the outside among the listed compatible printing devices. The method for controlling a terminal device according to claim 9. As a result of the comparison determination in the seventh step, when there is no printing device in which the device information includes all the printing information, information on a printing function that is not included is added, and the printing device is A tenth step to enumerate;
The terminal device control method according to claim 10, further comprising an eleventh step of determining whether or not to execute a subsequent printing process by receiving an instruction input from the outside. In the eleventh step,
A second print processing continuation input for continuing print processing in any of the listed printing devices;
12. The method for controlling a terminal device according to claim 11, wherein one of the instruction input and the second interruption input for interrupting the printing process is received.   A computer program for causing a computer to function as the terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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