JP2012008792A - Information processor and printer driver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To add file-categorized serial numbers to print data without making it necessary to provide any functions for adding serial numbers to each file name for every application, and without giving any feeling of complicatedness in operation to a user.SOLUTION: A serial number addition part is configured to acquire the file name of plotting data from a spooler (S0), and to acquire a record including the main part of the file name from a serial number information table included in the serial number information file (S1), and to, when the field of the necessity/non-necessity of the addition of the record indicates the necessity of addition (S2), generate, on the basis of the record acquired in the step S1, overlay data in which serial numbers included in this are described at a set position, and to add this to a spool file (S3), and to perform the increment of the serial numbers included in the record in the step S1 only by 1, and to update the corresponding record in a serial number information file 43 with this record (S4).

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus including a printer driver and a printer driver.

  In Patent Document 1 below, each of a plurality of printers connected to a network requests a serial number from a control device connected to the network, and the control device generates a serial number in response to the request. Thus, a system for printing by adding this serial number to print data on the printer side is disclosed.

JP 2007-317051 A

  On the other hand, there are cases where it is desired to manage the number of copies for each file to be printed to ensure the security of the secret document.

  However, in the above method, it is not possible to print with a serial number included in each file to be printed. In order to realize this, each application must have a function of adding a serial number to a document.

  In general, applications do not manage by adding a serial number for each file created by the user, so create a dedicated utility, specify the file to be printed with this utility, and add the serial number. Must. For this reason, the user must perform a complicated operation.

  In view of such problems, the object of the present invention is not necessary to provide a function for adding a serial number for each file name for each application, and without giving the user a complicated feeling of operation. Is to provide an information processing apparatus and a printer driver capable of adding a print data to print data.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the processor and the drawing data in the application-independent language supplied from the application via the drawing interface to the processor are processed by the preprocessing unit, and then the print data in the page description language In an information processing apparatus comprising a printer driver for converting to
Nonvolatile storage means for storing file-specific number information in which file names and serial numbers are associated;
The pre-processing unit
By referring to the file number information, the serial number corresponding to the file name of the drawing data is acquired,
The data for drawing the serial number is added to the drawing data of the first page or each page of the drawing data file,
The serial number corresponding to the file name of the drawing data included in the file-specific number information in the nonvolatile storage means is incremented.

According to a second aspect of the information processing apparatus and the printer driver according to the present invention, in the first aspect, the information processing apparatus and the printer driver further include an input unit and a display unit,
In response to the setting screen display instruction from the input unit, the file unit number information stored in the nonvolatile storage unit is displayed in a list on the display unit,
The contents of the list display are changed according to the edit input from the input means,
In response to the input confirmation instruction from the input means, the file-specific number information in the nonvolatile storage means is updated based on the changed contents.

  According to the configuration of the first aspect, it is not necessary to provide a function for adding a serial number for each file name for each application, and the user-specific serial number is added to the print data without giving the user a complicated feeling of operation. There is an effect that it can be added.

  According to the structure of the said 2nd aspect, there exists an effect that the serial number according to a file can be edited easily irrespective of the kind of application.

  Other objects, characteristic configurations and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description read in connection with the appended claims and the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram mainly illustrating a software configuration of a printer driver according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic flowchart which shows the process sequence by the serial number addition part in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the serial number addition setting screen classified by file displayed by the UI part in FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In this system, the host computer 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 are coupled via a LAN 30.

  In the host computer 10, a CPU 11 is coupled to a PROM 13, a DRAM 14, a hard disk drive 15, a network interface 16, and an interactive input / output device 17 via an interface 12. In FIG. 4, a plurality of types of interfaces are represented by one block 12 for simplification.

  The PROM 13 is a flash memory, for example, and stores a BIOS. The DRAM 14 is used as a main storage device. The hard disk drive 15 stores a virtual storage OS (operating system), various drivers, applications, and data. Network interface 16 is coupled to LAN 30. The interactive input / output device 17 includes, for example, a keyboard and pointing device as input devices, and a display device.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram mainly showing a software configuration of the printer driver 40.

  When an application 41 such as a word processor is activated to create a document interactively and then printing is selected, the printer driver 40 is activated. When a print condition setting screen (not shown) is displayed and an option button is clicked on the input device 172 of the interactive input / output device 17, the user interface unit 42 responds to this and the contents of the serial number information file 43 are displayed. 3 is displayed on the display device 171 of the interactive input / output device 17 as shown in FIG.

  The serial number information file 43 includes data for displaying the file-specific serial number addition setting screen 50. The record of the serial number information table 51 in the screen 50 includes a line number field incremented by 1 each time a line is added, a main body field (no extension) of the file name to be printed, and the file name. A serial number field for each file that is incremented each time one file is printed, a field indicating whether or not this serial number needs to be added, and whether this serial number is added to only the first page or all pages And a field indicating a serial number addition position on the page. This additional position is either left, center, or right of the upper end portion, or left, center, or right of the lower end portion. The serial number information file 43 also includes a selection list for determining whether or not a serial number should be added and a selection list for serial number addition positions.

  When the file name to be printed does not exist in the serial number information table 51, the user operates the input device 172 to describe the file name on a new line, and drops down only one of the first page or all the pages. Select from the list and select one of the six additional positions from the drop-down list. The default value for necessity of addition is an addition requirement.

  When the file name to be printed already exists in the serial number information table 51, the user operates the input device 172 to appropriately change the selection content in the line (record).

  When no serial number is added to any file, the user operates the input device 172 to uncheck the check box 52 in the upper left of the serial number information table 51.

  When the editing of such settings is completed, the user clicks the “OK” button 53 with the input device 172. In response to this, the user interface unit 42 updates the contents of the serial number information file 43 with the contents of the serial number information table 51 and the check box 52, thereby confirming the setting of the serial number information.

  When the user clicks a print execution button on a UI screen (not shown) with the input device 172, the application 41 responds to this and converts the document data into drawing data in an application-independent language via the drawing interface 44. The drawing interface 44 is, for example, a GDI (graphic device interface) of Windows (registered trademark) OS. This drawing data is transferred to the spooler 45 of the OS and temporarily stored as a spool file.

  The application 41 also passes drawing data meta information to the spooler 45 via the drawing interface 44. This meta information includes the file name of the drawing data, and the body part of this file name is the same as the file name body part to be edited by the application 41.

  In response to the ready notification from the spooler 45, the PDL (page description language) conversion unit 46 of the printer driver 40 calls the serial number addition unit 47 as preprocessing for PDL conversion. Thereby, the process of FIG. 2 by the serial number addition part 47 is started.

  (S0) The serial number adding unit 47 acquires the file name of the drawing data from the spooler 45.

  (S1) The serial number adding unit 47 acquires a record including the main body part of the file name from the serial number information table 51 included in the serial number information file 43.

  (S2) If the addition necessity field of this record indicates addition necessity, the process proceeds to step S3, and if not, the control is returned to the PDL conversion unit 46.

  (S3) Based on the record acquired in step S1, overlay data in which the serial number included in the record is described at the set position is generated and added to the spool file.

  (S4) The serial number included in the record in step S1 is incremented by 1, and the corresponding record in the serial number information file 43 is updated with this record, and control is returned to the PDL conversion unit 46.

  The PDL conversion unit 46 converts drawing data including overlay data in the spool file into PDL language print data, and the communication control unit 48 controls the network interface 16 to transmit the print data to the image forming apparatus 20. To do.

  As a result, a serial number is added to the print data in accordance with the contents of the corresponding record in the serial number information table 51, and the document in which the serial number is added to the first page or a designated position on each page in the image forming apparatus 20 Is printed.

  According to the first embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a function for adding a serial number for each file name for each application, and a file-specific serial number is added to print data without giving the user a complicated feeling of operation. There is an effect that it becomes possible.

  In addition, there is an effect that the serial number for each file can be easily edited regardless of the type of application.

  In the above, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, the present invention includes various modifications, and other configurations that realize the functions of the respective components described in the above embodiments are used. However, other configurations that would be conceived by those skilled in the art from these configurations or functions are also included in the present invention.

10 Host computer 11 CPU
12 Interface 13 PROM
14 DRAM
15 Hard Disk Drive 16 Network Interface 17 Interactive Input / Output Device 171 Display Device 172 Input Device 20 Image Forming Device 30 LAN
40 Printer Driver 41 Application 42 User Interface Unit 44 Drawing Interface 45 Spooler 47 Serial Number Addition Unit 43 Serial Number Information File 50 File-Specific Serial Number Addition Setting Screen 51 Serial Number Information Table 52 Check Box 53 “OK” Button

Claims (4)

A processor and a printer driver that causes the processor to process drawing data in an application-independent language supplied from an application via a drawing interface in a preprocessing unit, and then convert the drawing data into page description language print data. In the information processing apparatus provided,
Nonvolatile storage means for storing file-specific number information in which file names and serial numbers are associated;
The pre-processing unit
By referring to the file number information, the serial number corresponding to the file name of the drawing data is acquired,
The data for drawing the serial number is added to the drawing data of the first page or each page of the drawing data file,
Incrementing the serial number corresponding to the file name of the drawing data included in the file-specific number information in the nonvolatile storage means;
An information processing apparatus characterized by that. Input means and display means, the preprocessing unit for the processor,
In response to the setting screen display instruction from the input unit, the file unit number information stored in the nonvolatile storage unit is displayed in a list on the display unit,
The contents of the list display are changed according to the edit input from the input means,
In response to the input confirmation instruction from the input means, based on the contents after the change, the file-specific number information in the nonvolatile storage means is updated.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. In a printer driver for causing a computer to process drawing data in an application-independent language supplied from an application via a drawing interface in a pre-processing unit and then convert the data into print data in a page description language.
The pre-processing unit
Read the file-specific number information corresponding to the file name and serial number from the nonvolatile storage means,
By referring to the file number information, the serial number corresponding to the file name of the drawing data is acquired,
The data for drawing the serial number is added to the drawing data of the first page or each page of the drawing data file,
Incrementing the serial number corresponding to the file name of the drawing data included in the file-specific number information in the nonvolatile storage means;
A printer driver characterized by that. The pre-processing unit
In response to the setting screen display instruction from the input unit, the file unit number information stored in the nonvolatile storage unit is displayed in a list on the display unit,
The contents of the list display are changed according to the edit input from the input means,
In response to the input confirmation instruction from the input means, based on the contents after the change, the file-specific number information in the nonvolatile storage means is updated.
The printer driver according to claim 3.

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