JP2011100196A - Printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To configure settings to ensure consistency in printing by associating the settings of an application and a printer driver without holding all the settings to be set on the printer driver side, on the application side. <P>SOLUTION: A printing control method includes: controlling a UI (user interface) on the application side, when an unknown item not held on the application side is set at the printer driver, to prohibit the setting; and applying the value set on the printer driver side as it is.There is no need for the application to hold all the print settings.Even when undefined and unknown settings are configured, consistency is maintained in printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control system and a print control method for setting print output control for a print output device from an information processing apparatus.

  When performing print settings that conflict or overlap between the application and printer driver when performing print settings that are equivalent to the print settings of the printer driver, the settings in the application and printer driver are consistent. May not be maintained and may result in output not intended by the user. For example, when printing is performed with the printer driver set to single-sided with the printer driver set to double-sided, the actual output result will be printed on both sides even though it is displayed as single-sided in the application preview Or when N-up and other settings are processed independently on the application side to create an image, what is set on the application side with 4-up is set to 4-up with the printer driver, and printing is actually performed Output is multiplied by the respective settings, and inconsistency occurs such as being output as 16-up.

  In order to avoid such a problem, in the conventional technology, there are items that extract duplicate items from the setting contents items of the application and the printer driver, and prevent these contents from conflicting (for example, Patent Document 1). Specifically, input of duplicate items is prohibited on the print setting screen of the printer driver. Or, delete duplicate items from the print setting screen of the printer driver. Or warn when duplicate items are operated. In addition, the print preview screen is displayed at the same time, and when the setting is made on the setting screen of the printer driver, the setting is reflected in the print preview (for example, when the toner save mode is set, the image on the preview screen is displayed lightly). .

JP 11-143664 A

  In the prior art, it is assumed that all items that can be set by the printer driver are held in advance by the application. In this case, the application side needs to hold the greatest common divisor of the print settings of various printer drivers, and the settings that the application should hold increase. Every time a new setting item undefined on the application side is added to the printer driver, it is necessary for the application side to be able to set the added setting item.

The printer driver (102) that enables print settings for controlling the print processing by the print output apparatus and the application program (101) that enables print settings independently from the printer driver (102) are linked. In the information processing apparatus (100) for setting the print settings,
The application program (101) has a setting value determining means (304) for determining whether or not a setting value set by the printer driver (102) is a setting value that can be interpreted by the application program (101), and the setting value determination It is determined whether or not the setting value set in the printer driver (102) by the means (304) can be interpreted by the application program (101) (S703). If the setting value is an unknown setting value, And a print setting screen display means (304, 302, S707) for disabling the setting change of the setting item corresponding to the setting value on the print setting screen of the application program (101). Control system.

  There is no need to maintain all settings that can be set on the printer driver side on the application side, and the settings of both the application and printer driver can be linked so that printing can be performed without causing inconsistencies.

1 is a system configuration diagram of a print control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a hardware block diagram of the information processing apparatus in the print control system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 3 is a software configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an example of print setting information held by a printer driver of a print control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an example of print setting information held by an application of a print control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a processing flow of an application when a print setting screen of a printer driver is activated in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an application process flow when the print setting screen of the printer driver is closed in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a processing flow when updating the preview display of an application in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is an example of the GUI screen of the application in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an example of an application print setting screen in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. 4 is an example of a print setting screen of a printer driver in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an example of a screen when a warning is displayed on the preview display screen of the application of the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
〔System configuration〕
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a print control system suitable for the information processing system of the present embodiment. The print control system is realized by a PC 100 which is a preferred embodiment for the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The document printing application 101 is an application program that provides a function of printing a document that has been edited by performing document editing or image editing, and has a printing function for an operating system (OS). The document printing application 101 uses a predetermined interface (generally called GDI) provided by the OS when printing application data such as the created document data 103. That is, the document printing application 101 prints the created or read document data 103 to the OS output module (GDI function and GDI function), which is predetermined for the OS output module that provides the interface. Send). Upon receiving the output command, the output module converts the command into a format that can be processed by an output device such as a printer, and outputs (called a GDI function). Since the format that can be processed by the output device differs depending on the device type, manufacturer, model, etc., a printer driver is provided for each printer. The OS uses the printer driver to convert commands and print data. A print job is generated by generating and enclosing with JL (Job Language). When using Microsoft Windows as an OS, a module called GDI (Graphic Device Interface) corresponds to the output module described above. When printing the document data 103 edited by the document printing application 101, the document printing application 101 generates an output command suitable for the above-described OS output module in order to print each page according to the print setting information. And output to an output module (not shown). At that time, the printer driver 102 of the printer 104 used as an output device is designated. The output module converts the output command received using the printer driver 102 of the designated printer 104 into a device command that can be interpreted and executed by the printer 102. The device command is transmitted to the printer 104, and an image corresponding to the command is printed by the printer 104.
[Hardware configuration]
The hardware configuration diagram shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to the hardware configuration diagram of a general PC, and the hardware configuration of a general information processing apparatus can be applied to the PC 100 of this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the CPU 200 executes a program such as an OS or an application stored in the program ROM of the ROM 202 or loaded from the hard disk 209 to the RAM 201. The software configuration of FIG. 3 and the processing of each flowchart described later can be realized by executing this program. The RAM 201 functions as a main memory, work area, etc. for the CPU 200. The input device controller 203 controls input from the input device 207 such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display controller 204 controls display on various displays 208. The disk controller 205 controls data access to a hard disk 209 that stores various data, a floppy (registered trademark) disk (not shown), and the like. The NC 206 is connected to the network and executes communication control processing with other devices connected to the network.
[Software configuration]
FIG. 3 shows a software configuration diagram of the PC 100 constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. As described in the hardware configuration, the print control system according to the present embodiment is realized by a program that is executed on the PC 100.

The document print application 101 of the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an input management unit 301 that receives input from an input device 207 such as a keyboard / mouse of the PC 100, and a graphic user interface (GUI) of the application on the display 208 of the PC 100. ), A print setting information management unit 303 that reads and saves data for print settings in the external memory 209 and the ROM 202 of the PC 100, and the printer 104 that communicates with the printer driver 102 to print. An output control unit 304 that performs processing control and control related to display of a print setting screen in the printer driver 102 and the application 101 is configured.
〔data structure〕
FIG. 4 is an example of the structure of the print setting information 400 when the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention actually instructs the printer to print.

  A typical example of the print setting information 400 is called DEVMODE in a Microsoft Windows OS. DEVMODE is a structure that stores contents that can be set on the print setting screen of the printer driver in the Windows OS, and is provided by the OS. The DEVMODE is referred to when the printer driver to which the print data is passed generates a print command to be transmitted to the printer. The printer driver generates a print command so as to make the printer function as described in DEVMODE, and transmits the print command to the printer. In this embodiment, DEVMODE is assumed to be print setting information 400 in order to describe a print control system that operates under a Windows OS.

  DEVMODE has a public common part and an extended part that can be set for each printer. In the drawings of the present embodiment, the description is simplified for the sake of explanation.

  The printer name 401 contains the name of the printer to be output. The DEVMODE size 402 can store the sizes of the common part and the extended part of DEVMODE, and the total size. In the paper 403, the size of the output paper is set. In the setting direction 404, the paper feeding direction (vertical / horizontal) is stored. The driver version 405 contains the driver version. The color mode 406 is an item for designating whether data is printed in color or monochrome in the case of a color printer.

The page layout 407 is an item indicating how many pages of data are to be printed on one side of one sheet, and includes 1 page / sheet, 2 pages / sheet, 4 pages / sheet, 16 pages / sheet, and the like. An arrangement order 408 is an item indicating an arrangement when printing data of a plurality of pages on one sheet, and includes left to right, right to left, left to down, right to down, and the like.
The number of copies 409 is an item for setting the number of copies to be printed. The paper discharge method 410 is an item for specifying processing of discharged paper, and includes stapling and sorting. The printing method 411 is an item for designating single-sided printing or double-sided printing. The paper feeding method 412 is an item for designating a part for feeding paper, and includes a cassette 1, a cassette 2, a manual feed tray, and the like. The resolution 413 is an item for specifying the resolution, and includes fine, normal, and the like.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101 according to this embodiment. The print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101 includes information on setting items displayed on the print setting screen by the document print application 101, setting change impossible item information that disables setting change on the printer driver 102 side, and the like. The print setting information management unit 302 stores the file in the external memory 209 or the ROM 202 of the PC 100 as a file. Details will be described below.

  A tag 501 indicates the definition range of all setting items held by the document printing application 101.

  A tag 502 indicates the definition range of each setting item.

  A tag 503 indicates the definition range of the selection value in each setting item.

  An attribute 504 indicates the name of a setting item displayed on the print setting screen of the document print application 101.

  An attribute 505 indicates a flag indicating whether the setting item can be changed on the printer driver 102 side. When this flag is true, the setting item can be changed on the print setting screen of the printer driver 102, and when it is false, the change is made impossible.

  An attribute 506 indicates a default setting value of the setting item.

An attribute 507 indicates a selection value in the setting item.
[Process flow]
FIG. 6 shows a processing flow when the print setting screen of the printer driver 102 is activated from the GUI of the document print application 101.

  When the user performs an operation for starting the print setting screen of the printer driver 102, the input management unit 301 detects an operation on the input device 207 from the user, and the output control unit 304 starts the print setting screen of the printer driver 102. Instruct.

  In step S <b> 601, the output control unit 304 that has received the instruction instructs the print setting information management unit 303 to acquire the print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101 described with reference to FIG. 5. In response to the instruction from the output control unit 304, the print setting information management unit 303 acquires the print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101 stored as a file on the hard disk 209 and passes it to the output control unit 304. The output control unit 304 reads the print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101 acquired from the print setting information management unit 303, and temporarily stores the setting change disabled item information defined therein.

  In step S <b> 602, the output control unit 304 acquires the print setting information 400 from the printer driver 102 currently set in the document print application 101.

  In step S <b> 603, the output control unit 304 instructs the screen display management unit 302 to acquire setting values set on the print setting screen of the document print application 101. Upon receiving the instruction, the image display management unit 302 acquires the setting value set on the current print setting screen and passes it to the output control unit 304. The output control unit 304 overwrites the acquired setting value of the print setting screen as the setting value of the corresponding setting item in the print setting information 400 of the printer driver 102 and sets it as the print setting information 400 in the printer driver 102.

  In step S <b> 604, the setting change disabled item read in step S <b> 601 is set in the printer driver 102 as a setting for displaying the setting change disabled in the printer driver 102.

  In step S <b> 605, the output control unit 304 instructs the printer driver 102 to display a print setting screen. Upon receiving the instruction, the printer driver 102 displays a print setting screen. At this time, the displayed print setting screen is in a state in which the UI control of the setting corresponding to the setting change disable item set in S604 cannot be changed (for example, grayed out display), and further set on the document print application 101 side. The displayed setting value is reflected as the setting value of the corresponding setting item.

  In the above processing, in this embodiment, when the print setting screen of the printer driver 102 is activated, the print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101 and the print setting information 400 of the printer driver 102 are read. The processing may be performed in advance when the document printing application 101 is activated or when the printer driver 102 used in the document printing application 101 is changed.

  FIG. 7 shows a processing flow of the document print application 101 when the print setting screen of the printer driver 102 started from the document print application 101 is closed. When the print setting screen of the printer driver 102 is closed, the document print application 101 displays the print setting screen and the preview screen of the document print application 101 based on the print setting information 400 updated on the printer driver 102 side. Update.

  In step S <b> 701, the output control unit 304 detects that the print setting screen of the printer driver 102 is closed, and acquires the print setting information 400 from the printer driver 102.

  Next, the output control unit 304 performs the processing of steps S703, S704, S705, and S706 described below for each setting item defined in the print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101 (S602). ).

  In step S <b> 703, it is determined whether or not the setting value set in the setting item of the print setting information 400 of the printer driver 102 corresponding to the setting item held by the document print application 101 is a setting value that can be interpreted on the document print application 101 side. to decide.

  If it is determined in S703 that the setting value cannot be interpreted, the setting item is set as a setting item dependent on the printer driver 102 in S704. This setting item dependent on the printer driver 102 is a setting item in which the setting value set on the printer driver 102 side is reflected as it is without changing the setting in the document printing application 101. The setting items dependent on the printer driver 102 are temporarily stored by a program using a table or the like for holding the setting items.

  In S705, the warning display flag indicating that the preview display of the document printing application 101 may be different from the actual output result is set to 1. When this warning display flag is 0, a normal preview without warning display is displayed in the preview display, and when it is 1, a preview with warning display is displayed. The warning display flag is temporarily stored by the program.

  In step S <b> 706, the setting value set by the printer driver 102 is reflected on the setting value of the setting item held by the document printing application 101.

  If it is determined in S703 that the setting value can be interpreted, the process in S706 is performed on the setting item.

  After processing each setting item defined in the print setting information 500 held by the document print application 101, the output control unit 304 displays the print setting screen on the screen display management unit 302 in step S707. Instruct update. Upon receiving the instruction, the screen display management unit 302 updates the display of the print setting screen of the document print application 101 displayed on the display 208. At this time, the setting value of each setting item on the print setting screen is displayed in a state where the setting value of the printer driver 102 reflected in the process of S706 is set. At this time, with respect to the setting items dependent on the printer driver stored in S704, a display indicating that the setting in the printer driver 102 is reflected as it is is displayed on the UI control, and the print setting is made in a state where the setting cannot be changed. Display the screen.

  In step S708, the output control unit 304 instructs the screen display management unit 302 to update the preview display. Upon receiving the instruction, the screen display management unit 302 updates the preview display on the GUI of the document print application 101.

  Details of the processing in S708 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The screen display management unit 302 refers to the warning display flag temporarily stored in the program. When the warning display flag is 1 (S801), the screen display management unit 302 displays a preview with a warning display in S802. When the warning display behavior is 0 (S801), a preview is displayed in a normal state without warning display in S803.

  If there are setting items that are not stored in advance on the document printing application 101 side that are not described in the present embodiment, for example, setting items that are not displayed on the print setting screen on the document printing application 101 side and a change to preview occurs. As for typical setting items, the setting items are defined in advance, and for the setting items, the setting value of the print setting information 400 of the printer driver 102 is confirmed, and the process of reflecting the result in the preview display is shown in FIG. 6. A configuration added to the processing of FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing a GUI of the document printing application 101. The GUI (901) of the document print application 101 includes a preview display screen 902 and a print setting screen 903. On the preview display screen 902, a preview showing the print output result of the document data opened by the document print application 101 is displayed. On the print setting screen 903, a setting UI for print control is displayed, and the user can make print settings from this setting UI. The display on the preview display screen 902 is updated in accordance with the print settings set on the print setting screen 903.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically showing the details of the print setting screen 903 in the GUI (901) of the document print application 101. As shown in FIG. A print setting screen 903 includes a print setting unit 1001 for specifying print settings, a printer driver selection unit 1002 for specifying a printer driver used for actual print output, and a printer set in the printer driver selection unit 1002. A printer driver print setting unit 1003 for displaying a driver print setting screen, and a print execution unit 1004 for executing printing. When the print setting screen is updated (S707), the print setting unit corresponding to the setting item dependent on the printer driver is displayed, for example, as the print setting unit 1001 to reflect the setting on the printer driver side. In addition, when the gray display is performed, the setting cannot be changed.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically illustrating a print setting screen of the printer driver 102. The print setting screen (1101) of the printer driver 102 has UI controls for various print settings. The UI controls for the settings set as items that cannot be changed by the document print application 101 (S604) are as shown in 1102. In addition, the display is grayed out so that it cannot be changed.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing a state (S802, 1201) in which the preview is displayed with a warning display on the preview display screen 902 in the GUI (901) of the document printing application 101.

100 Information Processing Device in Print Control System According to Embodiment of Present Invention 101 Document Print Application in Print Control System According to Embodiment of Present Invention 102 Printer Driver in Print Control System According to Embodiment of Present Invention 103 Document Data Handled by Document Print Application in Print Control System According to Embodiment 104 Printer in Print Control System According to Embodiment of Present Invention 200 CPU of Information Processing Device in Print Control System According to Embodiment of Present Invention
201 RAM of an information processing apparatus in a print control system according to an embodiment of the present invention
202 ROM of an information processing apparatus in a print control system according to an embodiment of the present invention
203 Input device controller of information processing apparatus in print control system according to embodiment of the present invention 204 Display controller of information processing apparatus in print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention 205 Information in the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention Disk controller of processing device 206 Network card (NC) of information processing device in print control system according to embodiment of present invention
207 Input Device Connected to Information Processing Device in Print Control System According to Embodiment of Present Invention 208 Display 209 Connected to Information Processing Device in Print Control System According to Embodiment of Present Invention Printing according to Embodiment of Present Invention An external memory such as a hard disk (HD) or a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) for storing various data connected to the information processing apparatus in the control system 301 An information processing apparatus constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention Input management unit 302 Screen display management unit of the information processing apparatus constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention 303 Print setting information management unit 304 of the information processing apparatus constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention Information processing apparatus constituting a print control system according to an embodiment of the present invention Output control unit 400 of the device 400 Print setting information of the printer driver constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention 500 Print setting information of the application constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention 901 Embodiment of the present invention GUI of the application constituting the print control system according to
903 Print setting screen of application constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention 1101 Print setting screen of printer driver constituting the print control system according to the embodiment of the present invention

Claims (4)

The printer driver (102) that enables print settings for causing the print output device to control the print processing and the application program (101) that enables print settings separately from the printer driver (102) are linked to print settings. In the print control method for setting
The application program (101) includes a setting value determining means (304) for determining whether or not a setting value set by the printer driver (102) is a setting value that can be interpreted by the application program (101), and the setting value It is determined whether or not the setting value set by the printer driver (102) can be interpreted by the application program (101) by the determining means (304) (S703), and when the setting value is an unknown setting value And a print setting screen display means (304, 302, S707) for disabling the setting change of the setting item corresponding to the setting value on the print setting screen of the application program (101).   The print setting screen display means (304, 302, S707) according to claim 1 is an application program when the setting value of the setting item cannot be interpreted by the setting value determination means (304) according to claim 1. 101) A print control method characterized in that a display indicating that the setting value set by the printer driver (102) is reflected on the setting value of the setting item on the print setting screen of (101) (302, S707). In claim 1, when the set value discriminating means (304) according to claim 1 discriminates an unknown set value that cannot be interpreted, an output display showing an output result in the application is actually output by the output device. A print control method comprising: a print output warning display means (302, S708) for warning and displaying that there is a possibility that the output result may differ.   A print control system for executing the print control method according to claim 1.

Images