JP2017010371A - Print control device, print setting control program and print setting control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print control device which can perform customization for printing setting of a printer driver to be installed.SOLUTION: A print control device includes the steps of: installing a printer driver under an environment managed by an OS (S100); acquiring setting change information indicating the change of the printing setting in accordance with input from the outside (S110); and changing the printing setting adopted by the printer driver on the basis of the acquired setting change information (S130). The printing setting change step (S130) changes the initial setting of printing adopted by the printer driver stored in the OS following the installation of the printer driver on the basis of the setting change information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, a print setting control program, and a print setting control method.

  A Version4 printer driver (hereinafter referred to as V4 printer driver) that operates in Windows (registered trademark) provided by Microsoft Corporation (registered trademark) as an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) is known. The vendor creates a V4 printer driver based on the architecture determined by Microsoft for the construction of the V4 printer driver, and distributes it to the market.

  In this method, a printer driver is installed on a client using a print server. The print server manages each printer driver, its corresponding CPU, and its corresponding language, and a printer driver that matches the CPU type and language information of the client. A configuration is known in which a driver identifier is transmitted, a client requests a print server indicated by the received driver identifier from the print server, and the print server distributes the printer driver indicated by the received driver identifier (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2013-130985 A

  Due to the defined architecture, the installation process cannot be controlled by the V4 printer driver itself when the V4 printer driver is installed on the hardware. Here, the user wants to customize the printer driver to his preferred settings. However, as described above, as long as the V4 printer driver cannot control the installation process, even if the installation is completed and the printer can be used, the customization desired by the user is not reflected in the printer driver. It remained.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides a print control apparatus, a print setting control program, and a print setting control method capable of customizing print settings of an installed printer driver.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, the print control apparatus acquires an installation processing unit that installs a printer driver in an environment managed by the OS, and setting change information indicating a change in print settings in response to an input from the outside. An information acquisition unit; and a print setting change unit that changes print settings adopted by the printer driver based on the acquired setting change information.

  According to this configuration, even when the printer driver itself cannot change the print setting to be adopted at the time of installation of the printer driver, the printer driver adopts the function of the information acquisition unit and the print setting change unit. You can change (customize) the print settings.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the print setting change unit is configured to, based on the setting change information, an initial print setting employed by the printer driver, which is saved in the OS when the printer driver is installed. It may be changed.
According to this configuration, it is possible to change the initial print settings adopted by the printer driver by changing the information stored in the OS. In this case, the print setting changing unit converts the print ticket that describes the print setting and that reflects the setting change information into a specific data structure for the OS to save. The change is made by overwriting the initial setting based on the specific data structure stored in the OS with the print setting based on the specific data structure converted in response to the request to the printer driver. Is realized.

In one aspect of the present invention, the print setting change unit changes either the initial setting saved in the OS or the print setting saved by the printer driver according to the setting change information. It is good.
According to this configuration, information to be changed is appropriately selected according to a customization instruction (setting change information) desired by the user. Specifically, if the setting change information is information indicating a change in the initial setting, the print setting changing unit changes the initial setting stored in the OS, and the setting change information is a prohibition on printing. If it is information indicating the addition or deletion, the print setting stored by the printer driver is changed.

  The technical idea of the present invention is also realized by a device other than a printing control device. For example, the present invention provides a method (print setting control method) including a process executed by each unit of the print control apparatus as described above, a program (print setting control program) for causing a hardware (computer) to execute the process, It may be realized in various categories such as a computer-readable storage medium storing the program.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a print control apparatus. 3 is a flowchart showing processing according to the first embodiment. The figure which illustrates a part of UI screen. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1. Outline of print control device:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a print control apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The print control apparatus 10 includes a control unit 20 using, for example, an IC including a RAM, a ROM, a CPU, and other storage media. OS 11 is already installed in the control unit 20. An example of the OS 11 is Windows 8. In this embodiment, a printer driver (hereinafter referred to as a driver) 12 that is a type of V4 printer driver is installed in an environment managed by the OS 11. The application 13 also operates in an environment managed by the OS 11. The control unit 20 can execute processing according to such various programs (such as the driver 12 and the application 13) under the management of the OS 11.

  The application 13 corresponds to a print setting control program according to the present invention. In the print control apparatus 10, the print setting control method is realized by the control unit 20 executing a process according to the application 13. The function of the application 13 will be described later. For example, the driver 12 and the application 13 are recorded on an optical disc by the vendor who created them, and are provided to the user by distributing the optical disc to the market. The user can install the driver 12 in the print control apparatus 10 by causing the print control apparatus 10 (an optical disk drive (not shown) included in the print control apparatus 10) to read the optical disk. Of course, the form when the driver 12 and the application 13 are provided to the user is not limited to the form of distribution via the optical disc.

  The print control apparatus 10 includes an interface (not shown), and an input unit 50, a display unit 51, and a printer 52 are connected to the print control apparatus 10 through the interface. The input unit 50 is an input device for accepting a user's input operation, and may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, various input keys, or the like. The display unit 51 is a display that displays an arbitrary image according to a signal output from the control unit 20. The printer 52 is a printing device that is driven and controlled by the installed driver 12, and executes printing based on the rendered print data output by the control unit 20.

  The print control apparatus 10 is realized by various apparatuses that can be a control apparatus for the printer 52, such as a PC (personal computer), a tablet-type terminal, and a smartphone. Further, a part of the configuration included in the print control apparatus 10 (a configuration including at least the control unit 20) may be pointed out and grasped as the print control apparatus according to the present invention. The print control apparatus 10, the input unit 50, and the display unit 51 may be independent products or may be integrally configured products.

2. Instructions for customizing print settings:
Example 1
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing print setting customization processing (print setting control method) realized by the control unit 20 in accordance with the application 13 or the like. Here, processes related to the OS 11, the driver 12, and the application 13 are shown in parallel. The process described with reference to FIG. 2 is also referred to as Example 1.

  When the application 13 is activated in response to a predetermined operation on the input unit 50 by the user, the application 13 installs the driver 12 under the OS 11 (step S100). That is, the application 13 also functions as an installer for introducing the driver 12 into the print control apparatus 10. It can be said that the control unit 20 functions as an installation processing unit in realizing step S100.

  Next, the application 13 acquires setting change information indicating a change in print settings in response to an input from the outside (step S110). The application 13 displays a user interface (UI) screen on the display unit 51 in order to acquire setting change information. Then, setting change information is acquired in accordance with a user operation through the UI screen. It can be said that the setting change information is a customization instruction desired by the user. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the target of customization is the initial setting of printing adopted by the driver 12. The initial setting of printing is a printing condition that is already set when the driver 12 is started in order to cause the printer 52 to print a desired print target after the installation of the driver 12 is completed. The user can perform printing with the printing conditions arbitrarily changed from the initial setting every time printing is performed, but when such a change is not made, printing using the initial setting is executed as it is.

Step S110 is realized by the following procedure, for example.
First, the application 13 acquires a print ticket (PrintTicket) as a basis for customization from the driver 12. A print ticket is a document in which print settings are described. The print ticket is described in XML format, for example. Since the print ticket acquired from the driver 12 by the application 13 is information generated by the vendor as described above, the user's desire for the initial setting is naturally not reflected. Next, the application 13 edits the print ticket acquired from the driver 12 in accordance with a user operation through the UI screen.

  FIG. 3 illustrates a part of the UI screen 51a displayed on the display unit 51 in the process of step S110. The UI screen 51a displays various items of print settings such as “paper size”, “printing direction”, “paper type”, and the like, and initial settings for each item. The initial settings illustrated in FIG. 3 are the print settings described in the print ticket acquired from the driver 12, and are the initial settings determined by the vendor. The user can make changes to such initial settings by arbitrarily operating the input unit 50 while viewing the UI screen 51a. For example, by default, the item “color” is enabled (color printing is enabled), but the user can change it to “monochrome” or disable “double-sided printing”. Or activate the item. In response to such an operation, the application 13 sets the print ticket acquired from the driver 12 as, for example, a description in which color printing is changed to monochrome printing and single-sided printing is changed to double-sided printing (editing the print ticket). ). Editing the print ticket in this way corresponds to acquiring setting change information. It can be said that the control part 20 functions as an information acquisition part by implement | achieving step S110.

  Next, the application 13 converts the edited print ticket obtained in step S110, that is, the print ticket reflecting the setting change information according to the user's instruction, into a specific data structure for the OS 11 to store. The driver 12 is requested via the OS 11 (step S120). The specific data structure that the OS 11 stores is a so-called DEVMODE structure. The DEVMODE structure is a set of print setting information in a binary format defined by Microsoft Corporation. The application 13 delivers the edited print ticket together with the conversion request to the OS 11 (step S120), and the OS 11 delivers the edited print ticket and the request to the driver 12 (step S200). Then, in response to the request, the driver 12 converts the delivered XML format print ticket into a DEVMODE structure (step S300). The driver 12 returns the converted DEVMODE structure to the application 13 (step S310).

  The application 13 changes the initial print settings employed by the driver 12 stored in the OS 11 with the installation of the driver 12 (step S100) according to the DEVMODE structure returned in step S310 (step S130). Here, the initial print settings (initial settings determined by the vendor) stored in the OS 11 when the driver 12 is installed are stored in the form of the specific data structure for the OS 11 to store, that is, the DEVMODE structure. ing. Accordingly, in step S130, the application 13 overwrites the DEVMODE structure already stored in the OS 11 (DEVMODE structure corresponding to the initial setting determined by the vendor) with the DEVMODE structure returned in step S310. In this case, the application 13 stores the DEVMODE structure returned in step S310 in the OS 11 using SetPrinter, which is a kind of API (Application Programming Interface) function, and overwrites the DEVMODE structure already stored in the OS 11. .

  In step S300, the driver 12 converts the edited print ticket received from the OS 11 into intermediate data in the process of converting to the DEVMODE structure, and converts the intermediate data into the DEVMODE structure. You may ask. In that case, the OS 11 returns the converted DEVMODE structure to the application 13.

  Further, the application 13 may store the setting change information according to the user instruction obtained in step S110 in a queue property bag (QueuePropertyBag) included in the print setting property of the driver 12 (step S140). . The format of the setting change information stored here is not the DEVMODE structure, but is, for example, the above-described edited print ticket or other description data. In this case, the application 13 accesses the queue property bag using WindowsPowerShell and stores the setting change information.

  When the user starts up the driver 12 in order to cause the printer 52 to print a desired print target, the driver 12 that is a V4 printer driver initializes the print settings described in the DEVMODE structure stored in the OS 11. Adopt as. According to the first embodiment, by introducing the application 13 as a program for supporting the installation of the driver 12, the initial setting stored in the OS 11 is changed from the DEVMODE structure corresponding to the initial setting determined by the vendor. The DEVMODE structure reflecting the setting change information according to the instruction (DEVMODE structure returned in step S310) is changed. In other words, when the user starts up the driver 12 to cause the printer 52 to print a desired print target, the initial setting adopted by the driver 12 has already been customized to the user's preference (in the above example, (Instead of the color printing and single-sided printing set by the vendor, the user's favorite settings such as monochrome printing and double-sided printing are the initial settings). This eliminates the need to change the initial setting to a setting of your choice every time printing is performed, thereby improving the printing work efficiency. According to steps S120 and S130 as described above, the control unit 20 functions as a print setting change unit that changes the print setting (initial setting) adopted by the driver 12 based on the setting change information acquired in step S110. I can say that.

  Further, by adding the above-described step S140, the reliability of customization of the initial setting is improved. Depending on the components constituting the driver 12, the DEVMODE structure stored in the OS 11 cannot always be referred to easily. On the other hand, the components constituting the driver 12 can be easily accessed to the above-described queue property bag. In other words, the initial setting change based on the setting change information is stored in the queue property bag in addition to the OS 11, so that the customization by the user is reliably reflected in the initial setting adopted by the driver 12.

Example 2
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a print setting customization process (print setting control method) realized by the control unit 20 in accordance with the application 13 and the like, which is different from the process shown in FIG. The process described with reference to FIG. 4 is also referred to as Example 2. With respect to FIG. 4, the description of FIG. Step S400 is the same as step S100.

  Next, the application 13 acquires setting change information indicating a change in print settings in response to an input from the outside (step S410). In the second embodiment, it is assumed that the customization target is a prohibition (or support function) regarding printing. Also in this case, the application 13 displays a predetermined UI screen on the display unit 51, and acquires setting change information in accordance with a user operation through the UI screen. The prohibition is, for example, prohibitions on various support functions of the printer 52 such as “prohibit double-sided printing on printing paper fed from a specific tray”, “prohibit color printing”, etc. It is. Therefore, for example, when a prohibition such as “color printing is prohibited” is adopted in accordance with a user instruction, the user cannot change the initial setting of “monochrome printing” to “color printing” at the time of printing.

Step S410 is realized by the following procedure, for example.
First, the application 13 obtains prohibition data (for example, an XML format document) describing prohibition on printing from the driver 12. Since the prohibition data acquired by the application 13 from the driver 12 is information generated by the vendor, the user's desires regarding the prohibition are not naturally reflected. Next, the application 13 edits the prohibition data acquired from the driver 12 in accordance with a user operation through the UI screen. For example, the application 13 adds prohibitions such as “prohibit color printing” and “prohibit single-sided printing” to the prohibition data acquired from the driver 12. Further, the application 13 can delete the prohibition described in the prohibition data acquired from the driver 12. Editing the prohibition data in this way corresponds to obtaining setting change information.

  Next, the application 13 stores the setting change information (prohibited data after editing) obtained in step S410 according to the user's instruction in the queue property bag included in the print setting property of the driver 12 (step S420). ). In this case, the application 13 accesses the queue property bag using WindowsPowerShell and stores the setting change information. Thereafter, if there is prohibited data after editing stored in the queue property bag in addition to the prohibited data that the driver 12 originally had, the driver 12 sets the print settings that preferentially apply the prohibited data after editing. adopt.

  When the user starts up the driver 12 in order to cause the printer 52 to print a desired print target, the driver 12 adopts the print setting described in the DEVMODE structure stored in the OS 11 as an initial setting. As described in the first embodiment, it is assumed that settings such as monochrome printing and double-sided printing are the initial settings as a result of the customization to the initial settings. In the second embodiment, it is assumed that a prohibition such as “color printing is prohibited” and “single-sided printing is prohibited” has been added (prohibition customization). In such a case, the user cannot make a change that enables color printing or single-sided printing with respect to the initial setting when printing a desired print target. As described above, according to the second embodiment, by introducing the application 13 as a program for supporting the installation of the driver 12, not only the initial setting of printing but also the prohibition (or support function) regarding printing when the driver 12 is installed. Can also be customized.

3. Supplementary explanation about the relationship between the first and second embodiments:
Both the first and second embodiments can be executed when the driver 12 is installed. That is, whether the application 13 changes the initial print settings stored in the OS 11 according to the acquired setting change information (Example 1) or the print settings (prohibition data) stored by the driver 12. Can be said to branch. Specifically, after the installation of the driver 12 (step S100 in FIG. 2 or step S400 in FIG. 4), the application 13 receives a change to the initial setting in the dialog with the user through the UI screen, that is, If the acquired setting change information is information indicating a change in the initial setting, the first embodiment (the process after step S120 in FIG. 2) is executed, and on the other hand, information indicating addition or deletion of prohibition regarding printing as the setting change information If obtained, Example 2 (the process of step S420 in FIG. 4) is executed. Of course, when the application 13 accepts a change to the initial setting and accepts the addition or deletion of the prohibition in the dialog with the user through the UI screen, the first embodiment (the process after step S120 in FIG. 2). And Example 2 (process of step S420 of FIG. 4) is performed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Print control apparatus, 11 ... OS, 12 ... Printer driver, 13 ... Application, 20 ... Control part, 50 ... Input part, 51 ... Display part, 51a ... UI screen, 52 ... Printer

Claims (7)

An installation processing unit that installs the printer driver in an environment managed by the operating system;
An information acquisition unit that acquires setting change information indicating a change in print settings in response to an external input;
Based on the acquired setting change information, a print setting change unit that changes print settings adopted by the printer driver;
A printing control apparatus comprising:   The print setting change unit, based on the setting change information, changes an initial print setting employed by the printer driver stored in the operating system upon installation of the printer driver. Item 2. The print control apparatus according to Item 1.   The print setting changing unit converts the print ticket describing the print setting and reflecting the setting change information into a specific data structure for the operating system to store via the operating system. Requesting the printer driver, and overwriting the initial setting based on the specific data structure stored in the operating system with the print setting based on the specific data structure converted in response to the request. The print control apparatus according to claim 2.   The print setting change unit changes either the initial setting saved in the operating system or a print setting saved by the printer driver according to the setting change information. Or the printing control apparatus of Claim 3.   The print setting change unit changes the initial setting stored in the operating system if the setting change information is information indicating the change of the initial setting, and the setting change information adds or deletes a prohibition regarding printing. 5. The print control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the print setting stored by the printer driver is changed if the information indicates the print information. An installation function that installs the printer driver in an environment managed by the operating system;
An information acquisition function for acquiring setting change information indicating a change in print settings in response to an external input;
Based on the acquired setting change information, a print setting change function for changing print settings adopted by the printer driver;
A print setting control program for causing a computer to execute. An installation process for installing the printer driver under an environment managed by the operating system;
An information acquisition process for acquiring setting change information indicating a change in print settings in response to an external input;
Based on the acquired setting change information, a print setting change step for changing the print settings adopted by the printer driver;
A print setting control method comprising:

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