JP2008140244A - Information processor, control method therefor and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system improving convenience, and to allow a user to easily select a print history desired by the user when performing list display of the print history, by efficiently displaying the past print history and registering it as frequently used setting. <P>SOLUTION: This information processor is provided with a function of list-displaying a plurality of pieces of history information to a printer driver for setting a set value of a plurality of print setting items to a printer according to a designated display condition, and registering one of the plurality of pieces of the stored history information as composite print setting that is a selection target of a selection means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that displays a setting screen having a plurality of types of print setting items for a printer, and sets the print setting items, a control method thereof, and a computer program.

Conventionally, when a document or image data edited by an application program for document editing or image editing is printed, various settings such as the number of copies to be output and printing on both sides of output paper can be made. In order to perform the setting, software called a printer driver is called on the display of the information processing apparatus as shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a user interface screen on the display of the printer driver (hereinafter referred to as a dialog), and settings such as the document size, number of copies, orientation, and magnification can be made on this dialog. When always printing with the same settings, changing the settings one by one is cumbersome. Therefore, when printing is performed, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose that all or part of the information is stored as print history information and reflected in the next print setting.
JP 2000-242463 A JP 2003-323280 A

  As the printer functions increase, the menus that can be set on the printer driver have increased, so in the dialog, tabs are divided into multiple screens and various functions are arranged.

  For this reason, a desired print function can be provided to the user, but there is a problem that operations related to print settings become complicated.

  Therefore, it is conceivable to store the print settings together with the print data and reuse them as in the background art. However, when the print settings are reused, the print settings are mostly used for other print data. It is. However, if the print setting history is kept one by one, the print history becomes large, and it becomes difficult for the user to select a print setting desired to be reused from the print history.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a mechanism for storing print settings used for printing as a print history and registering print settings for the print history in a composite print setting field managed as a frequently used setting. An object of the present invention is to improve operability related to reuse of print settings.

  It is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for easily selecting a print history desired by a user when displaying a list of print histories in order to improve the operability during registration.

  The present invention is an information processing apparatus for setting setting values of a plurality of print setting items for a printing apparatus, setting means for setting setting values of a plurality of print setting items for the printing apparatus, and setting by the setting means A history storage means for storing the setting values of the plurality of print setting items as history information when print data is generated using the set values of the plurality of print setting items. A selection means for selecting a composite print setting to be used for printing from a plurality of composite print settings in which setting values are collected, and a plurality of history information stored in the history storage means are displayed in a list according to a specified display condition. Display means for registering, and registration means for registering one of the plurality of stored history information as the composite print setting to be selected by the selection means.

  The apparatus further includes display condition setting means for setting display conditions for displaying a list of a plurality of history information stored in the history storage means, and the display condition setting means designates a display target of the print history. A first display condition for specifying the print history and a second display condition for specifying the display order of the print history.

  Further, the information processing apparatus further includes registration condition setting means for setting registration conditions for automatically registering the stored history information as the composite print settings, and the registration means is set by the registration condition setting means. The history information of the print setting that satisfies the registered condition is automatically registered as the composite print setting.

  The registration means includes manual registration means for registering history information selected from the history information displayed in a list on the display means as the composite print setting according to a manual operation of the user.

  The present invention is also realized by a control method and a computer program for controlling the information processing apparatus.

  According to the present invention, the print settings used for printing are stored as a print history, and a mechanism for registering the print settings of the print history is provided in the composite print setting column managed as a frequently used setting. The operability related to the reuse of print settings can be improved.

  Further, when displaying a list of print histories, it is possible to easily select a print history desired by the user by filtering and displaying the print histories according to the display conditions.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a print processing system that generates print data. Hereinafter, the configuration of each unit will be described.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a computer in which the print processing system of the present embodiment is installed. CPU 101 that executes document processing (including the like) and the like, and the CPU 101 generally controls each device connected to the system bus 106.

  The hard disk 111 stores an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) which is a control program of the CPU 101, font data used in the document processing, and other various data.

  Reference numeral 102 denotes a RAM that functions as a main memory, work memory, and the like of the CPU 101. A communication control unit 104 controls general-purpose communication means such as a network and Centronics, and communicates with other computers and printers. A mouse controller 107 controls the mouse 112. A keyboard controller 108 controls input from the keyboard 113. Reference numeral 109 denotes a display controller that controls display on a CRT display or LCD display 114. A disk controller 110 controls access to the hard disk 111 that stores a boot program, various applications, a data generation processing program (hereinafter referred to as a printer driver), and the like.

  Further, the CPU 101 opens various windows registered based on commands instructed by a mouse cursor or the like (not shown) on the CRT 114, and executes various data processing. When executing printing, the user opens a dialog regarding print settings, and sets the print processing method for the printer driver, including printer settings and print mode selection.

  FIG. 2 shows a flow of basic print processing of print data in the print data processing system shown in FIG.

  Here, the operation is the same regardless of whether a printing apparatus such as the printer 200 is directly connected by Centronics communication or USB, or a general printing method in the computer 100 or a dedicated print server connected via a network. The print data generation process is shown.

  In the configuration of FIG. 2, the application 201, the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203, and the system spooler 204 exist as files stored in a memory 111 such as a CD-ROM or a hard disk, and when executed, the OS or It is a program module that is loaded into the RAM 103 and executed by application software that uses the module.

  The application 201 and the printer driver 203 can be added to the hard disk 111 via a CD-ROM or a network. When a new printer is connected, you can use printer-specific functions by adding a printer driver that matches the printer.

  The application 201 stored in the hard disk 111 is loaded into the RAM 103 and executed. When printing is performed from the application 201 to the printer 200, the graphic that is similarly loaded into the RAM 103 and executable is executed. Output (draw) using the engine 202.

  The graphic engine 202 is a drawing unit provided by the OS, and loads a printer driver 203 prepared for each printer from the hard disk 111 to the RAM 103. The graphic engine 202 converts the drawing output of the application 201 into a drawing format depending on the capability of the printer driver 203. The printer driver 203 receives a drawing output from the graphic engine 202 and converts it into a page description language (hereinafter referred to as PDL) which is a control command and drawing command of the printer 200. The converted PDL is output from the communication control unit 104 to the printer 200 via the system spooler 204 loaded into the RAM 103 by the OS.

  Next, the configuration of the printer 200 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Here, the printer 200 includes a scanner unit, can read an image, and can perform a copying operation as well as the printer.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control unit. A scanner unit 301 reads an image. An RGB-IP unit 302 performs image processing on the image data. An A / D converter converts an optical signal scanned from the scanner unit 301 into an electrical signal by a CCD. Filter processing or the like is performed to convert RGB signals into YMC signals.

  A NIC (Network Interface Card) 304 exchanges image data and device information using a network. The printer state and the like are converted as MIB (Management Information Base) information and held in the NIC unit 304. The computer can monitor the status of the printer by receiving the MIB information.

  A PDL unit 305 develops PDL sent from the computer side into an image signal. Here, rasterized image processing called RIP (Raster Image Processing) is performed to develop the PDL data into a raster image. The developed raster image data is stored in page units for each job in a memory (not shown) such as DRAM for each CMYK color component if it is color, and only gray is page unit for monochrome. Stored in Then, it is sent to the core unit 303 according to the status of the printer unit 308.

  The core unit 303 temporarily stores an image signal or determines a route according to an operation such as printing or copying. Next, the image data output from the core unit 303 is sent to the PWM unit 307 via the CMYK-IP unit 306, and then sent to the printer unit 308 for image formation to be printed out.

  The core unit 303 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The bus selector unit 401 of the core unit 303 plays a role of traffic control in using the printer 200. That is, the bus is switched according to various functions in the stand-alone copying function, network scanning, and network printing.

  The image data output from the bus selector unit 401 is sent to the printer unit 308 through the compression unit 402, the memory unit 403 including a large capacity memory such as a hard disk (HDD), and the decompression unit 404. However, compression and decompression are performed as necessary and not always. The compression method used here may be a general method such as JPEG, JBIG, or ZIP.

  Next, the compressed image data is managed for each job and stored together with additional data such as a file name, a creator, a creation date and time, and a file size. For each stored job, when a job is called by specifying a job, after authenticating the password, it is called from the HDD, decompressed and restored to a raster image, and returned to the printer unit. Sent to 308.

  The CMYK-IP unit 307 will be described with reference to FIG.

  Data passed from the core unit 303 enters the output masking / UCR circuit unit 405, and the YMC signal generated by the RGB-IP unit 302 described above is converted into the toner colors Y, M, C, and K of the image forming apparatus. The signal is converted using a matrix operation, and is corrected and output as a C, M, Y, K signal based on the spectral distribution characteristics of the toner.

  Next, the gamma correction unit 406 converts the data into C, M, Y, and K data for image output using a look-up table (LUT) RAM that takes into account the color characteristics of the toner, and the spatial filter 407. Then, after sharpness or smoothing is performed, the image signal is sent to the PWM unit 307.

  The PWM unit 307 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The image data separated into four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) from the CMYK-IP unit 306 is image-formed through the respective PWM units 307. The In the case of monochrome, an image is formed only with black (K).

  In FIG. 5, reference numeral 501 denotes a triangular wave generator. Reference numeral 502 denotes a D / A converter that converts an input digital image signal into an analog signal. These two signals are sent to the comparator 503 and compared in magnitude. In FIG. 6, A is a triangular waveform, and B is the output of the D / A converter. The signal B has a signal level corresponding to the density of one pixel of the image. The comparator 503 compares and outputs the C waveform. The width of the C signal changes depending on the image density.

  The C signal is sent to the laser drive unit 504, and each of CMYK is converted into a laser beam by each of the CMYK lasers 505. The polygon scanner 701 scans the respective laser beams and irradiates the photosensitive drums 705, 706, 707, and 708.

  FIG. 7 shows an overview of the color printer unit.

  A polygon mirror 701 receives four laser beams emitted from the four semiconductor lasers 505. One of them scans the photosensitive drum 705 through the mirrors 702, 703 and 704. Similarly, the other three scan the respective photosensitive drums through the mirrors.

  On the other hand, a developing device 709 supplies yellow (Y) toner, forms a yellow toner image on the photosensitive drum 705 in accordance with the laser beam, and a developing device 710 supplies magenta (M) toner. , A magenta toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 706 in accordance with the laser beam, and a developing device 711 supplies cyan (C) toner. A cyan toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 707 in accordance with the laser beam. , 712 is a developing device that supplies black (K) toner, and forms a magenta toner image on the photosensitive drum 708 in accordance with the laser beam. The toner images of the four colors (Y, M, C, K) are transferred onto the paper, and a full color output image can be obtained.

  The paper fed from any of the paper cassettes 714 and 715 and the manual feed tray 713 is adsorbed onto the transfer belt 716 and conveyed. In synchronism with the timing of paper feeding, toner of each color is developed in advance on the photosensitive drums 705, 706, 707, and 708, and the toner is transferred to the paper as the paper is transported.

  The sheet on which the toner of each color is transferred is separated and conveyed by a conveyance belt 717, and the toner is fixed on the sheet by a fixing device 718 and discharged.

  Next, the operation will be described. When the printer driver is activated on the computer, a dialog shown in FIG. 8 is usually displayed.

  If the user frequently prints with the setting of 3 copies on both sides, the setting of 3 copies can be made in this dialog. Press to open the next dialog (not shown) and make settings. Since it is troublesome to press any button, when the key 802 is pressed after setting, the currently set content is registered as “favorite” of the menu. “Favorite” is a name for a set of setting values of a plurality of print setting items collectively registered as a composite print setting. In this embodiment, a plurality of composite print settings (favorites) are registered. The print setting content of “favorite” can be edited in a dialog opened by pressing the key 803. A key 801 is pressed to call the set menu. FIG. 9 shows a state where the key 801 is pressed. In FIG. 9, various menus set in the past by the pull-down menu are displayed. Here, by selecting the desired setting, the desired setting can be made without a complicated operation.

  A dialog shown in FIG. 10 is displayed by changing the value of the registry or the control file when starting up the printer driver because the user himself or the administrator of the computer environment desires to make the function easier to use or to make the function stand out. Is done.

  In the dialog 1001, the favorite menu is changed from the conventional printer driver dialog in FIG. The dialog 1002 is called “My Sheet” and can be displayed independently of the standard user interface 1001 of the printer driver. In the dialog 1002, a list of print history information is displayed at the top of the screen, and a list of settings registered as “frequently used settings” is displayed at the bottom. By double-clicking the settings registered in "Frequently Used Settings" with the mouse, the settings stored there are reflected in the dialog on the right. This “frequently used setting” can be operated in the same manner as the favorite menu of the conventional printer driver. When the registration button 1006 is pressed while one print history is selected in the print history display field, the print setting contents of the selected print history are displayed in the favorites menu as “frequently used settings”. be registered. The My Sheet dialog 1002 is closed when a Close My Sheet button 1003 in the standard user interface 1001 of the printer driver is pressed. When the My Sheet is closed, the display is switched as shown in FIG. 13, and a button for opening the My Sheet can be selected. When the edit button 1004 in the My Sheet dialog 1002 is pressed, the dialog shown in FIG. 11 is displayed.

  Next, the dialog in FIG. 11 will be described.

  In the dialog shown in FIG. 11, it is possible to set display conditions for printing history and registration conditions for automatically registering printing history in “frequently used settings”.

  The upper part of the dialog in FIG. 11 includes the first display condition item for the print history. For this first display condition item, “display all items by item”, “display only specified items”, “display other than specified items” are prepared as options, and an item selection field is prepared. . In the example of FIG. 11, “display all items” is selected as the first display condition item, and “application” is specified in the item selection field. Therefore, under this condition, the printing history is displayed collectively for each application that has instructed printing of the printing history.

  The display order can be set using the second determination condition item in the middle.

  In the second determination condition item in the middle of the dialog of FIG. 11, the options “display from latest”, “display from frequently used settings”, and “display from specified settings” are prepared. In the example of FIG. 11, “Display from latest” is selected as the second display condition item, so that the print history with the latest print date is displayed at the top of the print history column. . Although not shown, if a network address is designated in the address designation item, only a printer at a specific network address can be set.

  In the lower part of the dialog in FIG. 11, the maximum number of displays when a list of print histories is displayed can be set. When a numerical value is designated from “1 to 255”, the print history is stored for the designated numerical value. If it is set to “0”, it is stored as long as storage means such as a hard disk permits. At the bottom, when the number of print histories with the same print setting contents is the same, the number of items that prompt the user to register the print history can be set in “Frequently Used Settings”. If the check box on the right is checked, automatic registration is performed. Display according to the conditions set in this dialog.

  When the display is performed using the same icon as the icon used by the application software used at the time of printing, or using an icon reminiscent of the application software, the visibility is further improved.

  Further, displaying only the same application software that is used when the printer driver is operated can further enhance the convenience for the operator.

  When the tab 1101 is pressed, a dialog for editing the registered print settings is displayed. FIG. 12 shows the dialog.

  Here, it is possible to perform information operations that are effective for management, such as manually rearranging the rearranged items, changing icons, and inserting comments. Since the control unit according to the present invention can manually correct the automatically assigned icons and order, it is more convenient for the operator. In step 1908, a warning is displayed indicating that registration is already made with the same setting. This display is erased by time or by pressing a key. This completes the operation.

  Next, print history storage processing, display processing, and automatic registration processing for “frequently used settings” will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 18 shows the control procedure of the printer driver 203, and the CPU 101 operates according to the printer driver program.

  The operator LOGINs the computer, identifies the operator, and then operates the computer. The computer manages IDs and passwords for each operator, stores screens and various settings for each operator in the registry, and printer driver settings and print history information also have data for each operator.

  In step 1801, when a printer driver is called from application software or the like, the printer driver refers to items stored in the registry and displays a print dialog screen shown in FIG.

  In step 1802, the printer driver accepts various settings for printing in accordance with a user operation. In step 1803, when the OK key 1005 is pressed, print data is created by the printer driver and distributed to the printer. Step 1804 follows before and after communication with the printer. In step 1804, the printer driver 203 stores the contents of the print settings used for generating the print data in the hard disk 111 as a print history. The items stored here are items set by the printer driver, the name of the printed file, the date and time, the name of the application software used, and the like. Then, the display field of the print history in the dialog 1002 is updated according to the display conditions. For example, when “display from latest” is selected as the display condition, the print history of the print settings used in step 1803 is displayed at the top of the print history display section of the dialog 1002. To do.

  Although the file name is displayed in the example of FIG. 10, it can be displayed with a desired item by setting. In the maximum display number setting field of FIG. 11, the upper limit of the number of print histories to be stored is set, and when the upper limit is reached, the oldest history is deleted. Of course, when “display from setting with high use frequency” is set as the second display condition, the setting with the lowest use frequency is deleted. That is, the second display condition is also an erasing condition.

  In step 1805, the current print setting is compared with the registered print history. Here, the date / time parameter is excluded. In step 1806, based on the comparison result in step 1805, the printer driver 203 determines whether there is the same setting content in the current print setting and the registered print history. If it is determined that there is the same setting, the process proceeds to step 1812. If it is determined that there is no same setting, the process proceeds to step 1807.

  In step 1807, the number of items having the same setting contents is calculated by comparing the print setting that has just been printed with all the print histories that have already been stored. This is realized by writing the number of calculations in the already stored print history when there is an already stored print history having the same setting contents. In other words, if there is no print history that has the same setting contents, the print setting that has just been printed is stored as the print history, and “1” is written as the number of calculations for this question. If the setting contents are the same when the next printing is performed, the comparison result is searched for the same setting contents, so 1 is added to the calculation count and “2” is written. In this way, the number of calculations can be obtained.

  In step 1808, it is determined whether the obtained number of calculations has reached the number specified in the simultaneous determination number field of FIG. In the example of FIG. 11, since “3” is set in the simultaneous determination number column, it is determined whether the calculation count is “3”. As a result, if the number of calculations has reached the number of simultaneous determinations, the process proceeds to step 1809. If the number of calculations has not reached the number of simultaneous determinations, the process proceeds to step 1811. If the “automatically record” check box in FIG. 11 is not checked, the process proceeds to step 1811 regardless of the number of calculations.

  In step 1809, the number of calculations has reached the simultaneous determination number, and automatic registration processing is performed. In this embodiment, in this step, a screen that recommends registering to “frequently used settings” is displayed (not shown) to prompt the user to register. Of course, this display step is not necessarily required. If display is unnecessary, display is not performed and the process proceeds to the next step. In step 1810, the setting information that has just been printed is registered in “Frequently Used Settings”.

  On the other hand, if it is determined from the determination result in step 1806 that there is no same setting, in step 1812 the date / time parameter is updated for the print history having the same setting, and the print history is registered in the history column. To do.

  In step 1811, when the dialog 1001 is opened, a flag for controlling whether to open the dialog 1002 at the same time, an OPEN flag is set, and a control flag left / right flag for opening left or right is set, and the dialog 1001 is set. , 1002 is closed to end the operation.

  Next, a case where the print history in the print history column is manually registered in “Frequently Used Settings” will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 19 shows the control procedure of the printer driver 203, and the CPU 101 operates according to the printer driver program.

  In step 1901, the printer driver is called and a dialog is opened. In step 1902, the printer driver recognizes that the user has selected, for example, the top product plan shown in the drawing with the mouse from the print history of the dialog 1002. In step 1903, it is recognized that the user has pressed the registration key 1006.

  Further, when the selection is made with the mouse in step 1902, the same processing is performed even if the selection item is dragged and dropped to the print setting display list as it is.

  In step 1904, the past registered information displayed in a list and the selected history information other than the date / time parameter are compared.

  If there is no same thing in step 1906, the process proceeds to step 1908, and if there is no same thing, the process proceeds to step 1906. In step 1906, the print setting of the selected history information is registered. At this time, if the upper limit of the maximum number of display has been determined, the lowest rearranged one is deleted.

  In step 1907, the registered information is rearranged according to the conditions and displayed. The rearrangement condition is set in the dialog shown in FIG. 11 displayed when the edit key 1004 is pressed.

  Next, the operation when opening or closing the dialog will be described. Since the operation changes depending on the position of the dialog on the display, the case where the dialog is moved to the left and right will be described first.

  In FIG. 10, the dialog 1002 is in an open state, and this state is the default state. When the key 1003 is pressed in this state, the dialog 1002 is closed. The state is shown in FIG. In FIG. 13, the dialog 1002 is not displayed. Further, the key 1003 changes its display to a key in order to open the dialog 1002. Further, as shown in FIG. 13, the arrow is directed to the left side to highlight that the dialog is opened on the left side.

  FIG. 14 shows the positional relationship between the entire display and the dialog. In FIG. 14, reference numeral 1401 denotes an area that can be displayed on the display. Initially, a dialog 1001 is displayed at the center of the display, and a dialog 1002 is displayed on the left side thereof. It is assumed that the user drags the area described as “Properties” at the top of the dialog 1001 with the mouse to move the dialog left and right. In this case, the dialog 1002 moves to the left and right in conjunction with the dialog 1001.

  The operation in this case will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In step 2001, it is determined whether it has moved left or right. If it is left, the process proceeds to step 2002, and if it is right, the process proceeds to step 2008. It should be noted that the operation flow is the same after step 2002 and after step 2008 except that the movements of the flags for controlling the left and right operations are reversed.

  In step 2002, the position of the origin is determined. Here, the origin is the upper left corner of the dialog 1001.

  It is determined whether this origin is in the display or has gone out. The state in the state is the state of FIG. 14 or the state in which the dialog 1001 is all displayed while the dialog 1002 is half hidden as shown in FIG. The origin is outside means that the dialog 1002 is completely invisible as shown in FIG. 16 and is out of the display area of the origin of the dialog 1001. If the origin is close, the process proceeds to step 2003, and if it is within, the process proceeds to step 2007. In step 2003, the dialog 1002 is closed and the process proceeds to the next.

  In step 2004, the open / close flag which is a control flag is turned OFF. Thus, the dialog 1002 is not displayed when the printer driver operates next time. In step 2005, the left and right flags as control flags are turned OFF. As a result, when the key 1003 is pressed when the printer driver operates next time, a dialog 1002 is displayed on the right side. In step 2006, the key 1003 of the dialog 1001 is displayed on the right side of the dialog 1001.

  FIG. 16 shows a state in which the key 1003 is displayed on the right side.

  In step 2007, the left / right flag is turned OFF. As a result, the dialog 1002 remains open to the left and the key 1003 remains open to the left. However, if the dialog 1001 is closed as it is, the display history is stored so that the dialog 1002 automatically opens on the right side next time. In step 2008, the origin is determined as the upper right corner of the dialog 1001. Subsequent steps are only reversed in the left and right directions so far, and the description thereof is omitted. The operation for the left and right control is thus completed.

  Although only the left and right examples are shown in the figure, the same control is possible even when the dialog 1002 is moved up and down.

  Next, opening the dialog will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This operation starts when the printer driver is called.

  First, in step 2101, a dialog 1001 is displayed. In this case, the position information of the upper left corner, which is the origin, is written in the registry and displayed at the same position as when it was closed last time.

  In step 2102, the left / right flag is determined. If the left / right flag is ON, that is, if the dialog 1002 is to be opened to the left, the process proceeds to step 2102, and if the dialog 1002 is to be opened to the right, the process proceeds to step 2106.

  In step 2102, an open / close flag is determined. If the open / close flag is ON, that is, if the dialog 1002 is to be opened, the process proceeds to step 2103, and if not opened, the process proceeds to step 2105.

  In step 2104, the key 1003 is displayed on the left side of the dialog 1001 as a key for closing the dialog 1002.

  In step 2105, the key 1003 is displayed on the left side of the dialog 1001 as a key for opening the dialog 1002 on the left side. Accordingly, when the key 1003 is pressed, a dialog 1002 is displayed on the left side of the dialog 1001.

  After step 2106, the left and right control is only reversed, and the description is omitted.

  FIG. 17 shows a state where the dialog 1002 is opened with the key 1003 on the right side in the dialog 1001.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the print settings used for printing are stored as a print history, and the print settings of the print history are registered in the complex print settings column managed as frequently used settings. By providing such a mechanism, it is possible to improve operability related to reuse of print settings.

  Further, when displaying a list of print histories, it is possible to easily select a print history desired by the user by filtering and displaying the print histories according to the display conditions.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the user interface shown in FIGS. 10 to 17 is realized by the printer driver 203 is described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be realized by other software such as a dedicated application or a plug-in module of the application.

  Although the embodiment has been described in detail above, the present invention can take an embodiment as a system, apparatus, method, program, storage medium, or the like. Specifically, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to an apparatus composed of a single device.

  In the present invention, a software program (in the embodiment, a program corresponding to the flowchart shown in the drawing) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is directly or remotely supplied to a system or apparatus. In addition, this includes a case where the system or the computer of the apparatus is also achieved by reading and executing the supplied program code.

  Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention includes a computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

  In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, or the like.

  Examples of the recording medium for supplying the program include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, and an optical disk. Further, as a recording medium, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-R), etc. is there.

  As another program supply method, a browser on a client computer is used to connect to an Internet home page. Then, the computer program itself of the present invention or a compressed file including an automatic installation function can be downloaded from a homepage of the connection destination to a recording medium such as a hard disk. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the present invention.

  In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and key information for decryption is downloaded from a homepage via the Internet to users who have cleared predetermined conditions. Let It is also possible to execute the encrypted program by using the key information and install the program on a computer.

  Further, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the read program. Further, based on the instructions of the program, the OS running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can be realized by the processing.

  Further, the program read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Thereafter, the CPU of the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print processing system according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the flow of the print data of the print processing system which concerns on this invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control unit of a printer of the print processing system according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the core part 303 and the CMYK-IP part 306 in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the PWM part 307 in FIG. It is a wave form diagram showing the control waveform of the PWM part 307 in this FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a printer of a print processing system according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the conventional printer driver displayed on the display shown in FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printer driver after an operation is performed from FIG. 8. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printer driver of a print processing system according to the present invention. FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printer driver when an editing operation is performed in FIG. 10. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a next example of a printer driver when an editing operation is performed in FIG. 10. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printer driver when a sub dialog is closed in FIG. 10. 1 is a diagram showing an entire display of a print processing system according to the present invention. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a case where a printer driver dialog is moved to the left in FIG. 14. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a case where the printer driver dialog is further moved to the left in FIG. 15. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a case where a sub dialog of a printer driver is displayed on the right. It is a figure which shows the 1st operation | movement process procedure which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the 2nd operation | movement process procedure which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the 3rd operation | movement process procedure which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the 4th operation | movement process procedure which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Information processing apparatus 200 Printer 101 CPU
111 Hard disk 112 Mouse 113 Keyboard 114 Display

Claims (9)

An information processing apparatus for setting setting values of a plurality of print setting items for a printing apparatus,
Setting means for setting setting values of a plurality of print setting items for the printing apparatus;
A history storage unit that stores setting values of the plurality of print setting items as history information when print data is generated using the setting values of the plurality of print setting items set by the setting unit;
Selecting means for selecting a composite print setting used for printing from a plurality of composite print settings in which setting values of the plurality of print setting items are collected;
Display means for displaying a list of a plurality of history information stored by the history storage means in accordance with designated display conditions;
A registration unit that registers one of the plurality of stored history information as the composite print setting to be selected by the selection unit;
An information processing apparatus comprising: A display condition setting means for setting display conditions for displaying a list of a plurality of pieces of history information stored by the history storage means;
The display condition setting means sets a first display condition for designating a display target of a print history and a second display condition for designating a display order of the print history. Information processing device. A registration condition setting means for setting a registration condition for automatically registering the stored history information as the composite print setting;
The information according to claim 1, wherein the registration unit automatically registers the history information of the print setting satisfying the registration condition set by the registration condition setting unit as the composite print setting. Processing equipment.   The registration means includes manual registration means for registering history information selected from history information displayed in a list on the display means as the composite print setting according to a manual operation of a user. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 1 to 3. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus for setting setting values of a plurality of print setting items for a printing apparatus,
A setting step for setting setting values of a plurality of print setting items for the printing apparatus;
A history storage step of storing setting values of the plurality of print setting items as history information when print data is generated using the setting values of the plurality of print setting items set in the setting step;
A selection step of selecting a composite print setting to be used for printing from a plurality of composite print settings in which setting values of the plurality of print setting items are collected;
A display step of displaying a list of a plurality of history information stored by the history storage step according to designated display conditions;
A registration step of registering one of the plurality of stored history information as the composite print setting to be selected in the selection step;
An information processing method comprising: A display condition setting step for setting a display condition for displaying a list of a plurality of history information stored by the history storage step;
6. The display condition setting step sets a first display condition for designating a print history display target and a second display condition for designating a print history display order. Information processing method. A registration condition setting step for setting a registration condition for automatically registering the stored history information as the composite print setting;
The information according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the registration step automatically registers, as the composite print setting, history information of the print setting that satisfies the registration condition set in the registration condition setting step. Processing method.   The registration step includes a manual registration step of registering history information selected from the history information displayed in a list in the display step as the composite print setting according to a manual operation of a user. The information processing method according to any one of 5 to 7.   A computer-readable program that realizes the information processing method according to claim 5.

Images