JP2008269159A - Printer and its control system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reproduce a printed matter by storing a URL, the cache of content and print data in the case of printing WEB content, and for reprinting the WEB content on the basis of the information in the case of reprinting. <P>SOLUTION: A printer is provided with a print information storage part 23 for storing print information printed once, and the URL and content of the printed WEB page are stored in a storage part, and associated with print history information. In the case of issuing a print request to a printer on the basis of the print history information, any of the content stored in the storage part or the latest content acquired from the URL or stored print data is selected and printed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing control system.

  In recent years, printing apparatuses such as printers and digital multifunction peripherals have a network interface for connecting to an office network environment or a home LAN (local area network), and are connected to various information processing apparatuses such as a host computer and a server computer. It has been increasingly used.

  Needs required for a printing apparatus connected via a conventional LAN (local area network) include simply print data as represented by LPR (RFC1179) as a means for outputting print data from a host computer. However, the need for information device management has recently increased for printing apparatuses, and various means have been provided as additional technologies for networks.

  On the other hand, an increasing number of printing apparatuses have a large screen on the main body of the printing apparatus and can display a large amount of information. In addition to enabling device operation and settings using a large screen, in recent years there are also devices that have a built-in web browser and a function to display and print web content acquired via a network. To do.

In such a mechanism for printing WEB content, as described in JP-A-2004-62573, the URL of the printed content is stored, and the content is acquired and printed again at the time of reprinting. However, when the content changes, the print results are different. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-278719, once printed content is saved, and the saved content is used when reprinting is performed. However, moving image information such as Flash (registered trademark) is not necessarily stored in the past. In some cases, a result equivalent to the print result could not be obtained.
JP 2004-62573 A JP 2002-278719 A

  As described above, even if the URL and contents are stored, the same print result cannot always be obtained. In other words, when the content is re-acquired from the URL, if the content is rewritten, the result is different, and even if the content is stored, the date information is rewritten or Flash (registered trademark) is used. In the case of a video such as), the display state is not saved as a snapshot, so there is a problem that the result is different.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems,
When printing WEB content, in addition to the URL and WEB content, print data at the time of printing is saved, and when reprinting, the content is reacquired from the URL or the saved WEB content is printed. Or reprinting based on print data can be selected,
A printing device that can display and print web content,
URL storage means for storing the printed URL;
WEB content storage means for storing printed WEB content;
Print data storage means for storing the printed print data;
The printing apparatus includes a printing unit that issues a print request to the printing apparatus.

  Further, the printing apparatus includes a printing unit that obtains the latest WEB page with reference to the URL stored by the URL storage unit and issues a print request to the printing apparatus.

  Furthermore, the printing apparatus includes a printing unit that issues a print request to the printing apparatus based on the WEB content stored by the WEB content storage unit.

  Further, the printing apparatus includes a printing unit that issues a print request to the printing apparatus based on the print data stored by the print data storage unit.

Moreover,
When issuing a print request to the printing apparatus, it is possible to select information for making a print request from print information stored by the URL storage unit, the WEB content storage unit, and the print data storage unit.

Moreover,
The URL information stored by the URL storage unit is associated with the print history information for executing the printing of the WEB content.

  As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the same result can be obtained at the time of reprinting by storing the URL, content, and print data in relation to the print history information. Further, since it is possible to select a reprinting method at the time of reprinting, it is possible to cope with the case where it is desired to print the latest information. Further, by making it possible to select information to be saved at the time of printing, unnecessary information can be prevented from being saved.

  Next, preferred embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Example]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a printer control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  Here, a laser beam printer will be described as an example.

  In the figure, 1 indicates a general Internet environment, and 1000 indicates WEB content formed in HTML.

  In the printer 2000, reference numeral 2500 denotes a printer controller that incorporates various control devices connected to the printer 2000.

  Reference numeral 12 denotes a printer CPU (CPU), which comprehensively accesses various devices connected to the system bus 15 based on a control program stored in the program area of the ROM 13 or a control program stored in the external memory 14. Then, an image signal as output information is output to the print engine 17 connected via the raster controller 16.

  The font area of the ROM 13 stores font data used when generating output information to be output to the print engine 17, and is used on the host computer in the case of a printer without the external memory 14 such as a hard disk. Various kinds of information (setting information, WEB content, etc.) are stored.

  The LANC 18 is a LAN controller and is connected to the LAN 22. The LANC 18 can perform communication processing with the WEB content 1000 under the control of the CPU 12, so that print data reception processing and various information in the printer can be provided. It is configured.

  Reference numeral 19 denotes a RAM that functions as the main memory, work area, and the like of the CPU 12, and is configured such that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown). The RAM 19 is also used as an output information expansion area, and further includes an NVRAM (nonvolatile random access memory) and the like, and is used for various print setting information and network address setting information of the printer. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, an emulation program, form data, and the like. Reference numeral 21 denotes an operation panel on which an operation switch, an LED for displaying printer status and setting information, an LCD display, and the like are arranged.

  The print information storage unit 23 is an area for storing print result information as shown in FIG. 3 to be described later. The print information storage unit 23 stores WEB contents and print data in addition to the job name and URL of the print result. In the present embodiment, everything is stored in the print information storage unit 23, but it may be stored in the above-described external memory.

  In the present invention, the interface connected to the LANC 18 is not limited to Ethernet (registered trademark), and needless to say, any medium may be used as long as it is a communication medium capable of network communication such as IEEE 1394 and wireless LAN.

  Further, the LANC 18 may be configured to be detachable as a network card, and may be configured to be exchanged and mounted on a network card corresponding to various communication media.

  In the printing apparatus system configured as described above, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to sequence diagrams and flowcharts shown in FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram relating to WEB content printing in the printer control system according to the present invention. In step S201, the web content is displayed on the operation panel. When the user wants to print the WEB content displayed on the operation panel, the user instructs printing, and the web content is printed in S202. After executing printing in S202, the print history information is saved in S203, and the process is terminated. The print history information includes history information such as a print job name, the number of copies, and a print result, URL information of a printed WEB site, a cache of WEB contents, and print data when printing is executed.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of print history information stored in the sequence shown in FIG. In the table, 301 is internal identification information assigned to each job, 302 is a print job name, 303 is URL information of a printed WEB site, 304 is cache information of WEB contents, and 305 is a file name of printed print data. is there. Although not shown in the example of FIG. 3, the print history information may include the number of copies, the print owner name, the print result, and the like.

  FIG. 4 is an example of print history information. The user can view a print history screen (401) as shown in FIG. 4 on the main body operation panel. 402 is the name of the printed document, 403 is the name of the owner who executed printing, 404 is the number of copies, 405 is the date and time of printing, and 406 is an example of the printing result. In 402, a link to the reprint screen is designated, and it is possible to transition to the reprint confirmation screen by clicking the document name.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a reprint confirmation screen. In the reprint confirmation screen (501), the latest information is acquired from the stored URL and printed (502), reprinted from the cache information of the web content (503), or printed from the saved print data. (504) can be selected, the preview before printing can be displayed by pressing the preview button (505), and printing can be executed by pressing the print execution button (506). Is possible.

  FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram relating to reprinting of web contents in the printer control system according to the present invention. In S601, when a print history link as shown in FIG. 4 is clicked, a reprint selection screen is displayed in S602 (see FIG. 5). If the preview button is pressed after selecting the reprint method from the reprint selection screen, the process advances to step S604. If the print button is pressed, the process proceeds to S605. In S604, a preview screen is displayed (not shown). If it is determined in step S605 that the print button has been pressed, the process advances to step S606 to execute printing, and the process ends. If the print button has not been pressed, the process ends without executing printing.

[Other Examples]
In the first embodiment, as described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. 2, after printing the WEB content, the URL information of the printed WEB site, the cache of the WEB content, and the print data when the printing is executed are stored as the print history information. However, an embodiment in which information to be saved can be selected at the time of printing or in print settings is also conceivable. For example, if the user wants to always print the latest WEB content, only the URL information is required, so the WEB content cache and print data are not saved.

  In the first embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 4, the link information to the reprint confirmation screen is embedded in the document name. However, as another embodiment, one history or a plurality of records are displayed from the print history display. It is also possible to execute reprinting by checking the history check box and pressing the print button. In this embodiment, a plurality of reprints can be executed simultaneously.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing processing of web content printing according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an example of print history information to be stored according to the present invention. The figure of the WEB content which shows the printing history screen concerning the present invention. The figure of the WEB content which shows the reprint confirmation screen which concerns on this invention. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram relating to reprinting of web contents in the printer control system according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1000 Web contents 2000 Printer 1 Internet 22 LAN
12 CPU
13 ROM
14 External memory 15 System bus 16 Raster controller 17 Print engine 18 LAN controller 19 RAM
20 Disk Controller 21 Operation Panel 23 Print Information Storage Unit

Claims (6)

A printing device that can display and print web content,
URL storage means for storing the printed URL;
WEB content storage means for storing printed WEB content;
Print data storage means for storing the printed print data;
A printing apparatus system comprising printing means for issuing a print request to a printing apparatus.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a printing unit that obtains a latest WEB page with reference to the URL stored by the URL storage unit and issues a print request to the printing apparatus.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a printing unit that issues a print request to the printing apparatus based on the WEB content stored by the WEB content storage unit.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a printing unit that issues a print request to the printing apparatus based on the print data stored by the print data storage unit.   When issuing a print request to a printing apparatus, it is possible to select information for making a print request from print information stored by the URL storage unit, the WEB content storage unit, and the print data storage unit. Item 2. The printing apparatus according to Item 1.   The print control system according to claim 1, wherein the URL information stored by the URL storage unit is associated with the print history information for executing the printing of the WEB content.

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