JP2012022516A - Print control program, recording medium, information processing device, printing system, and a printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an improved convenience to a user of a printer by assisting user's configuration for printing.SOLUTION: A virtual printer driver 203 for output a print job to a client terminal 2, obtains characteristic quantity information indicating characteristic of a print job to be printed; searches print history information, according to the obtained characteristic quantity information, including the obtained characteristic quantity information of a print job previously output and print configuration applied in the print job with association therebetween, and extracts a print configuration applied in a print job which includes characteristic which the obtained characteristic quantity information indicates; obtain the number of times for which the extracted print configuration was applied that was extracted in the print job having the obtained characteristic quantity information based on the extracted results; determine print configuration to apply in a print job to output based on the number of times; and generate display information for showing the determination result to the user.

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control program, a recording medium, an information processing apparatus, a printing system, and a printing apparatus, and more particularly to determination of print settings when outputting a print command to the printing apparatus.

  In recent years, there has been a tendency to digitize information, and image processing apparatuses such as printers and facsimiles used for outputting digitized information and scanners used for digitizing documents have become indispensable devices. Such an image processing apparatus is often configured as an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) that can be used as a printer, a facsimile, a scanner, and a copier by providing an imaging function, an image forming function, a communication function, and the like. .

  Among such image processing apparatuses, there has been proposed a method for determining a print quality setting according to an object included in a document to be output in a printing apparatus used for outputting an electronic document ( For example, see Patent Document 1). In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a ratio for each type of drawing object included as image information of a document to be output is calculated, and a recommended print quality setting is determined according to the ratio. Yes.

  Also, a method for automatically setting a printer driver when printing and outputting information displayed via a certain application or processed information based on the setting frequency of the printer driver corresponding to the application has been proposed (for example, , See Patent Document 2).

  The items to be set for output in the printing apparatus include various settings such as single-sided / double-sided, aggregation, black and white, and staples in addition to the print quality targeted in Patent Document 1, and the user has selected those settings. You need to run the output above. Here, when it is necessary to set many items for a document that needs to be output periodically, the user needs to set many items each time, which is troublesome.

  When using the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, it is possible to automatically perform the above-described setting. However, when performing print output through the same application, the same setting is always applied. Become. Even in the same application, different settings can be used for different types of documents. Therefore, even if the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 is used, the user's effort can be completely eliminated. Absent.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to improve user convenience by assisting the setting at the time of print output.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, one aspect of the present invention is a print control program that causes an information processing apparatus to output a print command for a printing apparatus, and obtains feature amount information indicating the characteristics of the print command to be output Print history information stored in association with the feature amount information of the print command already output and the print settings applied in the already output print command based on the acquired feature amount information. A step of searching and extracting a print setting applied in a print command having a feature indicated by the acquired feature amount information, and a feature indicated by the acquired feature amount information based on an extraction result of the print setting A step of obtaining the number of times the extracted print setting is applied in the print command, and the print command to be output based on the obtained number of times. And determining a print setting to be applied, characterized in that and a step of generating a screen for presenting the determination result to the user to the information processing apparatus.

  Another aspect of the present invention is a recording medium, wherein the print control program is recorded in a format readable by an information processing apparatus.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus that outputs a print command to a printing apparatus, and a feature amount information acquisition unit that acquires feature amount information indicating a feature of the print command to be output. A print history information storage unit that stores print history information in which feature amount information of an already output print command and print settings applied in the already output print command are associated; and the print history information A search based on the acquired feature amount information, a print setting extraction unit that extracts a print setting applied in a print command having a feature indicated by the acquired feature amount information, and based on an extraction result of the print setting A setting application number obtaining unit that obtains the number of times the extracted print setting is applied in the print command having the feature indicated by the obtained feature amount information, and based on the obtained number of times, And applying setting determining section for determining a print setting to be applied in the print command to be serial output, characterized in that it comprises a screen generator for generating a screen for presenting the determination result to the user.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, a printing system includes the printing control program and a printing apparatus.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, a printing apparatus includes a storage unit in which the print control program is stored.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve user convenience by assisting the setting in print output.

It is a figure which shows the operation | use form of the printing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating hardware configurations of an image forming apparatus and a client terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the client terminal which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the printing history information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the print setting information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a virtual printer driver according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the extraction aspect of the information from the printing history information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the print setting screen which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the print setting screen which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the division | segmentation aspect of the printing feature-value information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the extraction aspect of the information from the printing history information which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a printing system including a printing apparatus and a printer driver installed in the information processing apparatus to operate the printing apparatus via an information processing apparatus such as a PC (Personal Computer) will be described as an example.

  In the printing system according to the present embodiment, when an information processing apparatus in which a printer driver is installed transmits a print job to the printing apparatus, print settings are automatically set according to the image or document to be printed out. It is possible to judge. This eliminates the need for the user to perform complicated setting item input and selection operations in the GUI (Graphical User Interface) of the printer driver, thereby improving user convenience.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an operation mode of a printing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system according to the present embodiment is operated by connecting an image forming apparatus 1 that is a printing apparatus and a plurality of client terminals 2 via a network line such as Ethernet (registered trademark). .

  The image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is a multifunction machine that can be used as a printer, a facsimile, a scanner, and a copying machine by including an imaging function, an image forming function, a communication function, and the like. The client terminal 2 is an information processing terminal operated by a user, and a printer driver program for using the image forming apparatus 1 is installed.

  Next, the hardware configuration of information processing terminals such as the image forming apparatus 1 and the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus 1 includes an engine for realizing a scanner, a printer, and the like in addition to the hardware configuration shown in FIG. In the following description, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described as an example, but the same applies to the client terminal 2.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a configuration similar to that of a general server or PC. That is, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 20, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 30, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 40, and an I / F 50. 80 is connected. Further, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 60 and an operation unit 70 are connected to the I / F 50.

  The CPU 10 is a calculation unit and controls the operation of the entire image forming apparatus 1. The RAM 20 is a volatile storage medium capable of reading and writing information at high speed, and is used as a work area when the CPU 10 processes information. The ROM 30 is a read-only nonvolatile storage medium and stores a program such as firmware. The HDD 40 is a non-volatile storage medium that can read and write information, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like.

  The I / F 50 connects and controls the bus 80 and various hardware and networks. The LCD 60 is a visual user interface for the user to check the state of the image forming apparatus 1. The operation unit 70 is a user interface such as a keyboard and a mouse for the user to input information to the image forming apparatus 1.

  In such a hardware configuration, a program stored in a storage medium such as the ROM 30, the HDD 40, or an optical disk (not shown) is read into the RAM 20, and operates according to the control of the CPU 10, thereby configuring a software control unit. A functional block for realizing the functions of the image forming apparatus 1 and the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment is configured by a combination of the software control unit configured in this way and hardware.

  Next, the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a controller 100, an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) 101, a scanner unit 102, a paper discharge tray 103, a display panel 104, and a paper feed table. 105, a print engine 106, a paper discharge tray 107, and a network I / F 108.

  The controller 100 includes a main control unit 110, an engine control unit 120, an image processing unit 130, an operation display control unit 140, and an input / output control unit 150. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured as a multifunction machine having a scanner unit 102 and a print engine 106. In FIG. 3, the electrical connection is indicated by a solid arrow, and the flow of a sheet or a document bundle is indicated by a broken arrow.

  The display panel 104 is an output interface that visually displays the state of the image forming apparatus 1, and as a touch panel, when the user directly operates the image forming apparatus 1 or inputs information to the image forming apparatus 1. It is also an input interface (operation unit). The display panel 104 is realized by the LCD 60 and the operation unit 70 shown in FIG.

  The network I / F 108 is an interface for the image forming apparatus 1 to communicate with other devices such as the client terminal 2 and the workflow server 3 via the network, and an Ethernet (registered trademark) or a USB interface is used. The network I / F 108 is realized by the I / F 50 shown in FIG.

  The controller 100 is configured by a combination of software and hardware. Specifically, a program stored in a nonvolatile storage medium such as the ROM 30 and the nonvolatile memory and the HDD 40 and the optical disk is loaded into a volatile memory (hereinafter referred to as a memory) such as the RAM 20 and operates according to the control of the CPU 10. The controller 100 is configured by a software control unit configured by and hardware such as an integrated circuit. The controller 100 functions as a control unit that controls the entire image forming apparatus 1.

  The main control unit 110 plays a role of controlling each unit included in the controller 100, and gives a command to each unit of the controller 100. The engine control unit 120 serves as a driving unit that controls or drives the print engine 106, the scanner unit 102, and the like. The image processing unit 130 generates drawing information based on image information to be printed out under the control of the main control unit 110. The drawing information is information for drawing an image to be formed in the image forming operation by the print engine 106 as an image forming unit. The image processing unit 130 processes image data input from the scanner unit 102 to generate image data. The image data is information stored in the storage area of the image forming apparatus 1 as a result of the scanner operation.

  The operation display control unit 140 displays information on the display panel 104 or notifies the main control unit 110 of information input via the display panel 104. The input / output control unit 150 inputs information input via the network I / F 108 to the main control unit 110. The main control unit 110 controls the input / output control unit 150 to access the client terminal 2 via the network I / F 108 and the network.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 operates as a printer, first, the input / output control unit 150 receives a print job via the network I / F 108. The input / output control unit 150 transfers the received print job to the main control unit 110. When receiving a print job, the main control unit 110 controls the image processing unit 130 to generate drawing information based on document information or image information included in the print job.

  When drawing information is generated by the image processing unit 130, the engine control unit 120 controls the print engine 106 to form an image on the paper conveyed from the paper feed table 105 based on the generated drawing information. Let it run. As a specific aspect of the print engine 106, an image forming mechanism using an ink jet method, an image forming mechanism using an electrophotographic method, or the like can be used. A document on which image formation has been performed by the print engine 106 is discharged to a discharge tray 107.

  Further, when the image forming apparatus 1 operates as a copying machine, the image processing unit 130 generates drawing information based on imaging information received by the engine control unit 120 from the scanner unit 102 or image information generated by the image processing unit 130. To do. Based on the drawing information, the engine control unit 120 drives the print engine 106 as in the case of the printer operation. When the information format of the drawing information and the imaging information is the same, the imaging information can be used as the drawing information as it is.

  Next, the functional configuration of the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment includes a controller 200 and a network I / F 210 in addition to the LCD 60 and the operation unit 70 described in FIG. 2. The controller 200 includes a display control unit 201, an application 202, a virtual printer driver 203, and a printer driver 204.

  The network I / F 210 is an interface for the client terminal 2 to communicate with other devices such as the image forming apparatus 1 via the network, similar to that included in the image forming apparatus 1. A USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface is used.

  The controller 200 is configured by a combination of software and hardware, similar to that included in the image forming apparatus 1. The application 201 is realized when a software program installed in the client terminal 2 is loaded into the RAM 20 and the CPU 10 operates according to the program, and performs information processing according to an operation by the user via the operation unit 70. At the same time, a screen showing the processing status is generated and output.

  The display control unit 202 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) of the application 201 on the LCD 60 based on the screen output by the application 201. The virtual printer driver 203 is a configuration according to the gist of the present embodiment, and determines the optimum print output setting when print output is executed via the application 201. In order to make it possible to determine the optimum print output setting, the virtual printer driver 203 stores information about print output executed in the past (hereinafter referred to as print history information). That is, the printer driver 203 functions as a print history information storage unit.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of print history information stored in the virtual printer driver 203 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the print history information according to the present embodiment includes “print feature amount” indicating the characteristics of the executed print output and “print setting” indicating the settings of the printer driver 204 in the print output. Associated. As the “print feature amount” according to the present embodiment, two feature amounts of “job name” and “number of pages” are employed.

  The “job name” shown in FIG. 5 is information indicating the contents of an image or document to be printed out. For example, the file name of the image information that is the source of output is used. “Number of pages” is the number of pages of an image or document to be printed out. On the other hand, “print setting” is identification information for identifying setting contents such as “setting 1” and “setting 2”, and the setting contents are stored in association with the identification information. FIG. 6 shows an example of setting content information.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing information on the setting contents of the print settings stored in the virtual printer driver 203 in the present embodiment. For example, “setting 1” indicates that settings such as “double-sided”, “combined”, “staple”, and “monochrome” are applied.

  The printer driver 204 receives the processing by the virtual printer driver 203 and generates a print job to be transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1. The printer driver 204 according to the present embodiment generates a print job including a print control command such as PJL (Printer Job Language), PDL (Page Description Language), raster data, and the like, and forms an image via the network I / F 210. Transmit to device 1.

  In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which the printer driver 204, which is an existing printer driver, and the virtual printer driver 203 according to the gist of the present embodiment are configured separately. Such a configuration can be realized by adding the virtual printer driver 203 while keeping the existing printer driver. In addition, it is also possible to create a printer driver that includes the functions of both the virtual printer driver 203 and the printer driver 204.

  Next, operations of the virtual printer driver 203 and the printer driver 204 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, when the virtual printer driver 203 is activated in accordance with the processing of the application 202 (S701), the virtual printer driver 203 acquires information from the application 202 and refers to the print feature amount (S702). In the present embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 5, “job name” and “number of pages” are referred to as print feature amounts. That is, step S702 is a step in which the virtual printer driver 203 acquires feature amount information, and the virtual printer driver 203 functions as a feature amount information acquisition unit.

  Referring to the print feature amount, the virtual printer driver 203 searches the print history information based on the print feature amount as a result of the reference, and extracts recommended print settings (S703). The process of S703 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 (a) and 8 (b). FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are diagrams illustrating sorting and tabulation of print history information when the virtual printer driver 203 searches for print history information in the processing of S703.

  FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating a state in which the number of times printing has been performed is counted as “total number of printings” for each print feature amount such as “job name” and “number of pages”. The virtual printer driver 203 extracts “total print count” shown in FIG. 8A for each print feature amount such as “job name” and “number of pages”. For example, if the print feature values referred to in S702 are “AA meeting minutes” and “20 pages”, “3” is the total number of prints of “job name” and “total number of prints of“ number of pages ”is“ 1 ″ is extracted respectively.

  FIG. 8B shows the number of times printing is performed for each combination of print feature values such as “job name” and “number of pages” and print settings for each print feature value as “number of prints by setting”. It is a figure which shows the state which carried out. The virtual printer driver 203 extracts “number of times of printing by setting” shown in FIG. 8B for each print feature amount such as “job name” and “number of pages”. In the extraction of “number of times of printing by setting”, when printing with different print settings is executed for the same job name and the same number of pages, the number of times of printing by setting is extracted.

  In other words, the virtual printer driver 203 searches the print history information based on the feature amount information acquired in step S702 and applies the process of FIG. 8B in the past in the print job having the feature indicated by the feature amount information. And a step of obtaining the number of times each print setting is applied. That is, the virtual printer driver 203 functions as a print setting extraction unit and a setting application number acquisition unit.

In this way, to extract the "total print number" and "set-specific print-number", the virtual printer driver 203, the extracted total print number of times the job name N _{(job name),} the total number of times of printing for the number of pages N _{( Number of pages),} and the number of prints by setting in job name setting n is N _{(job name, setting n)} , and the number of printings by setting in page number setting n is N _{(number of pages, setting n).} Using (1), the setting application probability P _{(setting n)} for each print setting is obtained. Note that “T” in Expression (1) is the number of print feature amounts, and is “2” in the present embodiment.

For example, if the feature quantity of “job name” extracted in S702 is “AA meeting minutes”, the print setting of “setting 1” and “setting 3” in the example of FIG. Are stored as print history information. Accordingly, the virtual printer driver 203 calculates P _{1 (setting 1)} and P 2 _{(setting 3)} by performing calculation of Expression (1) in each of “setting 1” and “setting 3”. That is, the setting application rate P is a value indicating a ratio at which each print setting that has been applied in the past is applied.

  When the setting application probability is obtained for all of the plurality of print settings extracted as the “number of prints for each setting” in this way, the virtual printer driver 203 has the largest print setting among the obtained setting application probabilities. Are extracted as recommended settings. Thereby, the process of S703 is completed. In other words, the processing of S703 ends when the virtual printer driver 203 functions as an application setting determination unit to complete the step of determining the print setting to be applied in the print output.

  When the processing of S703 is completed, the virtual printer driver 203 generates a setting screen for displaying the extracted recommended settings, and causes the display control unit 201 to display the setting screen (S704). That is, the virtual printer driver 203 functions as a screen generation unit. An example of the setting screen displayed in S704 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, in the setting screen according to the present embodiment, “basic setting” and “double-sided aggregation” corresponding to the respective print settings such as “setting 1”, “setting 2”, “setting 3”. Icons such as “,“ aggregate ”... Are displayed, and the icons corresponding to the settings extracted as the recommended settings in S703 are highlighted.

  In the example of FIG. 9, the print setting icon “basic setting” is selected as the most recommended setting, and is highlighted in a different manner from the other icons. That is, in step S704, the virtual printer driver 203 generates a setting screen so that a screen as shown in FIG. 9 is displayed.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting screen having a mode different from that in FIG. In the example of FIG. 10, when a plurality of settings are extracted as recommended settings, an area for displaying icons corresponding to respective print settings such as “basic settings”, “double-sided aggregation”, “aggregation 3”,. Separately, an area for displaying an icon corresponding to the print setting extracted as the recommended setting is provided. In the example of FIG. 10, the icon corresponding to the most recommended setting among the extracted recommended settings is highlighted in a selected state.

The case where a plurality of settings are extracted as the recommended setting is, for example, the case where all of the extracted print settings are set as the recommended settings when “number of prints by setting” is extracted for a plurality of print settings, For example, a case where all set values where the value of P _{(setting n)} exceeds a predetermined threshold is extracted as a recommended setting can be considered. Furthermore, when a plurality of recommended settings are extracted, the most recommended setting can be the setting having the highest value of P _{(setting n)} described above.

  Since the setting screen as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 is displayed, the user can select a recommended print setting from the past printing results and instruct execution of printing. It is possible to easily execute printing with settings corresponding to the above. When the user clicks a portion displayed as “OK” on the screen as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 to confirm the print setting (S705 / YES), the virtual printer driver 203 prints the print feature amount referred to in S702. The print history information is updated by associating the selected print settings with each other and registering them as shown in FIG. 5 (S706).

  Further, the virtual printer driver 203 outputs the content of the selected print setting to the printer driver 204 (S707), and ends the process. Accordingly, the printer driver 204 generates a print job based on the print setting selected by the user for the image information instructed to be printed by the application 202, and transmits the print job via the network I / F 210. By such processing, the operations of the virtual printer driver 203 and the printer driver 204 according to the present embodiment are completed.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the virtual printer driver 203 stores the past print performance in association with the print feature value and the print setting, and based on the print feature value in the image to be printed. Search past results, extract suitable print settings, and present them to the user. Thereby, setting at the time of print output can be assisted, and user convenience can be improved.

  In the above embodiment, the case where “job name” and “number of pages” are used as print feature amounts has been described as an example. However, various print feature amounts can also be used. Further, the print feature amount is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more. Further, in the above-described embodiment, when “job name” is used as the print feature amount, an example has been described in which extraction processing is performed with a complete match of the job name, such as “AA meeting minutes”. It is also possible to perform an extraction process.

  Further, when the print feature quantity is character information such as “job name”, the character information can be divided and each divided character can be handled as an independent print feature quantity. Such an example will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12A to 12D. In the example of FIGS. 11 and 12A to 12D, the print feature amount of the image to be printed is “AA meeting minutes” as “job name”, “10 pages” as “number of pages”. An example is given.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a division mode of character information of “job name”. In the example of FIG. 11, the character information “AA meeting minutes” is divided into three character information “AA”, “meeting”, and “minutes”. Such division is performed by the virtual printer driver 203. Thereafter, the virtual printer driver 203 processes the character information of “AA”, “meeting”, and “minutes” as independent job names instead of the job name “AA meeting minutes”.

  FIGS. 12A to 12D show “total number of prints” and “number of prints by setting” for the job names “AA”, “meeting”, “minutes” and the number of pages of “10 pages”, respectively. It is a figure which shows the extracted result. For example, FIG. 12A is a diagram showing the result of searching the print history information for the job name “AA”, where the total number of printing is “3”, the number of printing by setting for setting 1 is “2”, It is extracted that the number of prints for each setting 3 is “1”.

As shown in FIGS. 12A to 12D, when the “total number of printing times” and the “number of printing times by setting” are extracted, the virtual printer driver 203 follows the calculation method similar to the above-described equation (1). The setting application probability P for “setting 1”, “setting 2”, and “setting 3” extracted in FIGS. 12A to 12D is calculated. For example, in the case of “setting 1”, the setting application probability P _{(setting 1)} is obtained by the following equation (2). In the case of equation (2), “T” is “4”.

  According to the modes of FIGS. 11 and 12A to 12D, similar job names can be extracted as recommended print setting candidates, and setting application probabilities for print settings with completely matching job names. The setting application probability can be calculated so that the calculated value of becomes higher. Accordingly, as described with reference to FIG. 10, the combined use with an aspect in which a plurality of recommended settings are presented is particularly effective.

  In the examples of FIGS. 11 and 12A to 12D, the case where the character information of “job name” is divided as the print feature quantity to be divided has been described as an example. The print feature amount is not limited to “job name” and can be applied in the same manner as long as the print feature amount is represented by character information, and the same effect as described above can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Client terminal 10 CPU
20 RAM
30 ROM
40 HDD
50 I / F
60 LCD
70 Operation unit 80 Bus 100 Controller 101 ADF
102 Scanner unit 103 Paper discharge tray 104 Display panel 105 Paper feed table 106 Print engine 107 Paper discharge tray 108 Network I / F
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 110 Main control part 120 Engine control part 130 Image processing part 140 Operation display control part 150 Input / output control part 200 Controller 201 Display control part 202 Application 203 Virtual printer driver 204 Printer driver 210 Network I / F

JP 2010-027041 A JP 2001-075762 A

Claims (8)

A print control program for causing an information processing device to output a print command for a printing device,
Obtaining feature amount information indicating features of the print command to be output;
Search the print history information stored in association with the feature amount information of the print command already output and the print setting applied in the print command already output based on the acquired feature amount information, Extracting print settings applied in a print command having a feature indicated by the acquired feature amount information;
Obtaining a number of times that the extracted print setting is applied in a print command having a feature indicated by the acquired feature amount information based on the extraction result of the print setting;
Determining print settings to be applied in the print command to be output based on the determined number of times;
A print control program causing an information processing apparatus to execute a step of generating a screen for presenting the determination result to a user. A step of obtaining a ratio at which the extracted print setting is applied based on the number of times the print command having the feature indicated by the acquired feature amount information is output and the number of times the extracted print setting is applied. Is further executed by the information processing device,
The step of determining the print setting to be applied causes the information processing apparatus to execute a step of determining a print setting to be applied in the print command to be output based on the obtained ratio. Item 8. The print control program according to item 1.   In the step of generating a screen for presenting the determination result to the user, the plurality of extracted print settings are presented, and one print setting determined as the print setting to be applied is set as another print setting. The print control program according to claim 1, wherein a screen to be displayed in a different mode is generated. Of the acquired feature quantity information, the information processing apparatus is further caused to execute a step of dividing the feature quantity information, which is character information, into a plurality of pieces of character information to obtain a plurality of pieces of feature quantity information.
In the step of extracting the print setting, the print history information is searched based on the divided feature amount information, and the print setting applied in the print command having the feature indicated by the divided feature amount information is extracted. The print control program according to claim 1, wherein the print control program is a print control program.   5. A recording medium in which the print control program according to claim 1 is recorded in a format readable by an information processing apparatus. An information processing apparatus that outputs a print command to a printing apparatus,
A feature amount information acquisition unit for acquiring feature amount information indicating the feature of the print command to be output;
A print history information storage unit that stores print history information in which feature amount information of an already output print command and print settings applied in the already output print command are associated;
A print setting extracting unit that searches the print history information based on the acquired feature amount information and extracts a print setting applied in a print command having a feature indicated by the acquired feature amount information;
A setting application number obtaining unit that obtains the number of times the extracted print setting is applied in a print command having a feature indicated by the obtained feature amount information based on the extraction result of the print setting;
An application setting determination unit that determines a print setting to be applied in the print command to be output based on the determined number of times;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a screen generation unit that generates a screen for presenting the determination result to a user.   A printing system comprising the printing control program according to claim 1 and a printing apparatus.   A printing apparatus comprising: a storage unit in which the print control program according to claim 1 is stored.

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