JP2009175806A - Information processing apparatus, print system, program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing apparatus, capable of displaying information necessary for selecting an optimum output destination for output of image data on a further detailed and easy-to-see device information screen, and to provide a print system, program and recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: A dialog for designating an image forming apparatus that is an output destination of print data is displayed on a display part 15, and a user can designate the image forming apparatus of the transmitting destination using identification information of the image forming apparatus such as an IP address, a host name, or additive information. Further, a character string of the displayed output destination becomes a link for shifting to a Web page displaying detail information of each image forming apparatus, and the detailed information can be displayed by clicking the link. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a printing system, a program, and a recording medium, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus, a printing system, a program, and a recording medium that display apparatus information of a print data transmission destination.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing system in which a printing apparatus (also referred to as a printer or an image forming apparatus) and a computer are connected via a network has been widely used. The printing apparatus receives image data (also referred to as print data, print data, or image formation data) from the computer and outputs the image data. Conventionally, a printing apparatus is mainly placed at a predetermined position, and a user (user) installs and uses a printer driver corresponding to the printing apparatus in a computer.

  In the printing system as described above, a plurality of printing apparatuses may be connected. As a result, the user can select a printing apparatus as an output terminal according to the image data to be output. Since various types of printing apparatuses are mixed, it is necessary for the computer to install a printer driver in addition to the output destination printing apparatus.

  In recent years, portable terminal devices such as notebook PCs (personal computers) have become widespread, and printing is sometimes performed outside the office. In such a case, providing a plurality of printer drivers in the portable terminal device in advance increases the cost, and installing the printer driver for each printing takes time and is troublesome.

In view of this, a printing system has been proposed that enables normal printing of print data output from a portable terminal device even if the portable terminal device does not have a plurality of printer drivers in advance (for example, Patent Documents). 1, see Patent Document 2). The computer analyzes the image data to be output, determines the characteristics of the print job, and acquires information about each device from the plurality of printing devices. The characteristics of the print job and the device information of each printing device are displayed on the display unit of the computer, and the user is prompted to select an output destination. Alternatively, a printing device that can normally print image data is determined by comparing the characteristics of the print job with each device information, and is selected as an output destination candidate.
JP 2006-260455 A JP 2006-344125 A

  However, in the printing system as described above, since the printer driver installed in the computer displays the device information of each printer on the screen of the driver, the device information that can be displayed is limited. For this reason, there is a problem that there is a shortage of information for the user to select an optimum output destination (printing apparatus, printer). If device information for selection is insufficient, an appropriate output destination cannot be selected, and the purpose of determining a printing device that can normally print print data cannot be achieved.

  In the Mobile driver, MIB data (Management Information Base. A database of information related to the management target referenced by the network management system. Information on the management target related to the system, products, implementation and operating status, etc. Are managed as a hierarchical tree structure with object identifiers attached to the respective items), and device information of the detected printer is acquired and displayed in a printer selection dialog. The above problem can be dealt with by increasing the information to be displayed, but there is a limit to the information that can be acquired by the MIB, and there is also a problem that it cannot cope with newly developed optional devices and functions.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to display information necessary for selecting an optimum output destination for outputting image data on a more detailed and easy-to-read device information screen. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a first information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus connectable to a network, and includes a print data creating means for creating print data, and a plurality of connected to the network. Detailed information display means for acquiring the detailed information display destination of the image forming apparatus and displaying the detailed information, and printing created by the print data creation function among the plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network An image forming apparatus designating unit for designating an image forming apparatus as a data transmission destination, and the print data created by the print data creating unit are transmitted to the image forming apparatus designated by the image forming apparatus designating unit via the network. Printing data transmission means.

  The second information processing apparatus according to the present invention further includes means for creating a display destination based on network information of the image forming apparatus when a display destination of detailed information of the image forming apparatus cannot be acquired. And

  Further, the program of the present invention acquires a print data creation function for creating print data, and detailed information for acquiring detailed information display destinations of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected via a network and displaying the detailed information. A display function; an image forming apparatus designating function for designating an image forming apparatus that is a transmission destination of print data created by the print data creating function among the plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network; and the print data A print data transmission function for transmitting print data created by a creation function to an image forming apparatus designated by the image forming apparatus designation function via the network is realized by a computer.

  The recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium on which the program of the present invention is recorded.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to display information necessary for selecting an optimal output destination for outputting image data on a more detailed and easy-to-read device information screen.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. As long as there is no description of the effect, it is not restricted to these aspects.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming system includes a portable terminal device 10 that can be connected to a network 5 such as a LAN (local area network), and a plurality of image forming devices 1 to 3 that can be connected to the network 5.

  The portable terminal device 10 is an example of an information processing device such as a notebook PC (Personal Computer), a mobile phone, a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), an electronic notebook, or a portable information terminal (PDA: Personal Digital Assistant). The portable terminal device 10 can perform an operation described later by installing and executing a printer driver (program).

  Each of the image forming apparatuses 1 to 3 is an image forming apparatus such as a printer (laser printer, LED printer, ink jet printer, or the like), a digital copying machine having a printer function, a digital multifunction peripheral, or a facsimile machine. Each of the image forming apparatuses 1 to 3 can perform printing (output) based on the image forming data from the portable terminal device 10 (printing the print data on a sheet as a visible image). Each of the image forming apparatuses 1 to 3 holds information specific to the printer language and the apparatus, and can provide the information according to a request from the portable terminal apparatus 10.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of the portable terminal device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the portable terminal device 10 is a notebook PC or PDA. The portable terminal device 10 includes an interface (I / F) 11, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 12, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 13, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 14, a display unit 15, a hard disk device (HDD: Hard Disk). Drive) 16, an input unit 17, and a storage medium drive 18. Reference numeral 19 denotes a storage medium.

  The I / F 11 is a communication unit for communicating with the image forming apparatuses 1 to 3 as external apparatuses via the network 5.

  The CPU 12 is a central processing unit that manages and controls the entire portable terminal device 10.

  The ROM 13 is a read-only storage unit (memory) that stores a fixed program executed by the CPU 12.

  The RAM 14 is a readable / writable storage means that is used as a work area when a program executed by the CPU 12 is expanded and various processes are performed.

  The display unit 15 is a display unit such as a CRT display (Cathode-ray Tube) or an LCD display (Liquid Crystal Display) that displays various data, work screens, and the like.

  The HDD 16 is a mass storage means for storing programs and data according to the present invention.

  The input unit 17 is an input means for a user (user) to input various operation information, and a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse can also be used.

  The storage medium drive 18 is a recording / reproducing unit that performs recording or reproduction on the storage medium 19.

  The storage medium 19 is a MO (Magneto Optical Disk), a CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable), a CD-RW (CD Regrettable), a DVD + R (Digital Versatile Disc Recordable), A computer-readable recording medium such as a DVD + RW disc (DVD Regrettable), DVD-R, DVD-RW, or DVD-RAM. Various programs (software) including an OS (operation system) and a printer driver are recorded.

  In the portable terminal device 10 configured as described above, the CPU 12 can read various programs from the storage medium 19 via the storage medium drive 18 and install them in the HDD 16 by operating the input unit 17 by the operator. .

  When the power is turned on, various programs including a printer driver, an OS, and a printer driver in the HDD 16 are read according to a boot loader (boot program) in the ROM 13, installed in the RAM 14, and then operated according to the various programs (the various programs). Are selectively executed as necessary) and by using the I / F 11, a print data creation function, an image forming apparatus designation function, a print data transmission function, an image forming apparatus search function, a search result display function, and Various functions including a function as an image forming apparatus information acquisition unit can be realized.

  Next, the operation processing by the portable terminal device 10 will be specifically described with reference to the drawings after FIG.

  When the user operates the portable terminal device 10 while away from home or the like and designates an arbitrary image forming apparatus connected to the network 5 to instruct to start printing, the printer driver creates print data. The created print data is transmitted to the designated image forming apparatus via the network 5, and printing is performed. Note that processing by a program (software) such as a printer driver is actually executed by the CPU 12 operating in accordance with these programs, but for the sake of explanation, these programs execute processing. Thereafter, the same applies to the case where the program is described as performing some processing.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of processing at the time of printing by the printer driver of the portable terminal device 10 according to the present embodiment. The printer driver of the portable terminal device 10 starts the process shown in FIG. 3 when a print start is requested by the user (operation of the input unit 17). First, print data is created (step S1). Next, a dialog for designating an image forming apparatus as an output destination of print data is displayed on the display unit 15 (step S2). A display example of the dialog is shown in FIG.

  When the dialog is displayed on the display unit 15, the user transmits print data to one of the image forming apparatuses 1 to 3 connected to the network 5 (arbitrary image forming apparatus) to perform printing. In order to perform this, the destination image forming apparatus is designated using identification information of the image forming apparatus such as an IP address, a host name, and additional information (step S3).

  When one of the image forming apparatuses connected to the network 5 is designated and the designation signal is received, the printer driver of the portable terminal device 10 opens (opens) a port for the designated image forming apparatus. The previously created print data is written to the port, and the print data is transmitted to the designated image forming apparatus via the network 5 to perform printing (steps S4 and S5).

  Writing of the print data to the port is repeated until all the print data is transmitted to the designated image forming apparatus (steps S5, S6, and S8). When transmission of all the created print data has been completed (when the print data has been lost), the port is closed (closed), and the process of FIG. 3 is terminated (steps S6 and S7).

  If the user requests cancellation of printing during printing, the writing of the print data to the port is terminated at that time, the port is closed, and the process of FIG. 3 is terminated (step S8, S7).

  When the user designates the image forming apparatus in step S3 of FIG. 3, a printer language such as Post Script or HP-PCL (Hewlett-Packard Printer Control Language) can be designated. In this case, the printer driver of the portable terminal device 10 permits transmission of the created print data only to the image forming apparatus in which the designated printer language is installed.

  As described above, when the printer language installed in the designated image forming apparatus includes the printer language designated by the user, it is necessary to install all printer drivers specific to the image forming apparatuses 1 to 4. Rather than installing only one printer driver according to the present embodiment corresponding to the printer language in the portable terminal device 10, the print data is transmitted to all image forming apparatuses equipped with the printer language and printed. Can be performed.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, when a dialog as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed in step S2, a link for moving the displayed output destination character string to a Web page displaying the detailed information of each image forming apparatus. The detailed information can be displayed by clicking the link.

  The URL associated with the link is prepared by the printer driver (see FIG. 5), but may be prepared either when displaying a dialog or searching for an image forming apparatus.

  According to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to improve user convenience by displaying detailed information of each image forming apparatus from a dialog when selecting an image forming apparatus. Many image forming devices have the ability to display detailed device information on the status and functions, such as paper settings for each tray and ink / toner remaining amount, from the web browser. The screen structure is easy to see according to the printer. By calling device information that each image forming apparatus displays as a Web screen from a screen (dialog) for selecting an output destination (print data transmission destination) displayed by the driver, the user can refer to a more detailed and easy-to-see device information screen. Therefore, the user can easily select an optimum output destination.

  The printer driver of the portable terminal device 10 broadcasts when a search for an available image forming device connected to the network 5 (an image forming device connectable to the portable terminal device 10) is requested by the user. You can also search using

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing for preparing a URL of a Web page for displaying detailed information of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The printer driver of the portable terminal device 10 starts the process shown in FIG. 5 when displaying a dialog for designating a destination image forming apparatus or after searching for an available image forming apparatus. To do.

  First, it is confirmed whether there is information on the image forming apparatus in the list holding the destination information. If there is no information (step S11 / No), the process ends. If there is information (step S11 / Yes), a URL for displaying detailed information is acquired from information such as the MIB of the image forming apparatus (step S12).

  If the acquisition has failed (step S13 / Yes), a URL is created from the IP address and host name of the image forming apparatus (step S14). For example, when the IP address of the image forming apparatus is “004.005.006.007”, “http: //” is added to the head and “http://004.005.006.007” is used as the URL.

  If the URL has been successfully acquired (Step S13 / No), or after the URL has been created (Step S14), the URL is added to the destination list information (Step S15). Thereafter, if the information on the image forming apparatus remains in the list, the process is repeated from the URL acquisition (step S16 / Yes).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a detailed information screen displayed when the link of the transmission destination image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 4 is clicked. Detailed information is displayed by a Web browser installed in the portable terminal device 10. Although the arrangement and the type of information differ depending on the image forming apparatus, information suitable for each apparatus is displayed.

  Note that the program for the CPU to execute the processing shown in the flowcharts of the drawings constitutes a program according to the present invention. As a recording medium for recording the program, a semiconductor storage unit, an optical and / or magnetic storage unit, or the like can be used. By using such a program and a recording medium in a system having a configuration different from that of each of the above-described embodiments and causing the CPU to execute the program, substantially the same effect as the present invention can be obtained.

  Although the present invention has been specifically described above based on the preferred embodiments, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described ones and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a portable terminal device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing at the time of printing by a printer driver of the portable terminal device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the dialog which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing for preparing a URL of a Web page for displaying detailed information of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a detailed information screen displayed when a link of the transmission destination image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 4 is clicked.

Explanation of symbols

1-3 Image forming apparatus 5 Network 10 Portable terminal device 11 Interface (I / F)
12 CPU
13 ROM
14 RAM
15 Display Unit 16 Hard Disk Device (HDD)
17 Input unit 18 Storage medium drive 19 Storage medium

Claims (6)

An information processing apparatus connectable to a network,
Print data creation means for creating print data;
Detailed information display means for acquiring detailed information display destinations of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network and displaying the detailed information;
An image forming apparatus designating unit that designates an image forming apparatus that is a transmission destination of print data created by the print data creation function among a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
Print data transmission means for transmitting the print data created by the print data creation means to the image forming apparatus designated by the image forming apparatus designation means via the network;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for creating a display destination based on network information of the image forming apparatus when a display destination of detailed information possessed by the image forming apparatus cannot be acquired.   An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, and an image forming apparatus that receives print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus via the network and forms an image based on the transmitted print data. A printing system comprising: A print data creation function for creating print data;
A detailed information display function for acquiring detailed information display destinations of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected via a network and displaying the detailed information;
An image forming apparatus designating function for designating an image forming apparatus that is a transmission destination of print data created by the print data creating function among a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to the network;
A print data transmission function for transmitting the print data created by the print data creation function to the image forming apparatus designated by the image forming apparatus designation function via the network;
A program characterized by causing a computer to realize.   5. The program according to claim 4, wherein when a display destination of detailed information possessed by the image forming apparatus cannot be acquired, a computer realizes a function of creating a display destination based on network information of the image forming apparatus.   The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program of any one of Claim 4 or 5.

Images