JP4635821B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program for transmitting print data to an image processing apparatus.

  Conventionally, in an information processing apparatus, a dedicated printer driver, document processing software, and distribution software are prepared for each image processing apparatus such as a printer. In recent printing systems, there are many examples in which not only a job is transmitted from an information processing apparatus to a printer for printing, but also high-performance processing is specified for printing data by various means and output.

  However, the conventional information processing apparatus requires a lot of costs for introducing the system, such as the development of a dedicated printer driver and document processing software, and the operation training thereof.

  In addition, many of today's information processing systems place importance on cooperation (SOA) with other systems through opening (especially Web services), making it difficult to build a system with dedicated software alone. .

BMLinkS (Business Machine Linkage Service) is known as a printer driver that realizes cooperation with other systems. In this BMLinkS, a process for requesting an OA device or a procedure for referring to and controlling a requested process, and an OA device A procedure for referring to the state of the OA device necessary when requesting the processing is specified, and the minimum control is guaranteed by the specified procedure (Non-Patent Document 1).
BMLinkS homepage, [online], [October 3, 2005 search], Internet <URL: http://www.jbmia.or.jp/bmlinks/>

  However, the printer driver described in Non-Patent Document 1 has a problem that when a high function is added, it is necessary to newly develop a printer driver, which requires development cost.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, enables high-performance processing in cooperation with other systems, and effectively uses existing printer driver programs to reduce development costs. It is an object to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention transmits print data to an image processing apparatus that performs image processing connected via a network using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). And an information processing apparatus that receives a Web service from the image processing apparatus, the storage unit storing a printer driver program, and the printer driver program stored in the storage unit to execute the printing and print data generation means for generating data, in the SOAP message setting screen displayed on the display, SOAP envelope setting for setting the SOAP header information and SOAP body information of the SOAP envelope information indicating the image processing for the print data A stage, and the SOAP message generation means for generating a SOAP message including the SOAP envelope information set by the SOAP envelope setting means, based on a predetermined protocol information, the SOAP message generated by the SOAP message generation means And transmission means for attaching the print data generated by the print data generation means and transmitting the print data to the image processing apparatus.

In addition, an information processing method according to the present invention transmits print data using SOAP to an image processing apparatus that performs image processing connected via a network, and provides a Web service from the image processing apparatus. Processing method for an information processing apparatus to receive a SOAP message setting screen that stores a printer driver program, generates the print data by executing the stored printer driver program, and is displayed on a display in, set the SOAP header information and SOAP body information of the SOAP envelope information indicating the image processing for the print data, generates a SOAP message including the SOAP envelope information said it sets, based on a predetermined protocol information , The generated SOAP method Sage, attach a print data the generated is characterized by transmitting to the image processing apparatus.

In addition, the program according to the present invention transmits print data using SOAP to an image processing apparatus that performs image processing connected via a network, and receives a web service from the image processing apparatus. In a storage means storing a printer driver program, a print data generating means for generating the print data by executing the printer driver program stored in the storage means, and a SOAP message setting screen displayed on the display , S containing the SOAP envelope setting means for setting the SOAP header information and SOAP body information of the SOAP envelope information indicating the image processing for the print data, SOAP envelope information set by the SOAP envelope setting means A SOAP message generation unit that generates an AP message, and a print message generated by the print data generation unit attached to the SOAP message generated by the SOAP message generation unit based on predetermined protocol information It is characterized by functioning as transmission means for transmitting to the image processing apparatus.

According to the present invention, a printer driver program is stored, and print data is generated by executing the stored printer driver program. Then, on the SOAP message setting screen displayed on the display, the SOAP header information and the SOAP body information of the SOAP envelope information instructing image processing for the print data are set, and a SOAP message including the set OAP envelope information is generated. Based on the predetermined protocol information, the generated print data is attached to the generated SOAP message and transmitted to the image processing apparatus. In the image processing apparatus, a SOAP message and print data attached to the SOAP message are received from the information processing apparatus by a provided Web service, and image processing is performed on the print data based on the SOAP envelope information of the SOAP message.

  Therefore, the print data generated by executing the printer driver program is attached to the SOAP message and transmitted to the image processing apparatus, so that the existing printer driver program can be used effectively, so that the development cost can be reduced. By instructing the image processing for the print data in the SOAP envelope information of the SOAP message, it is possible to realize highly functional processing in cooperation with other systems.

  The Web service is Web-based application software that can be used from outside by SOAP.

The information processing apparatus according to the present invention further includes a protocol setting means for setting the protocol information, transmit means, based on the protocol information set by the protocol setting means, the print data in the SOAP message Can be attached and transmitted to the image processing apparatus. Thereby , the user can designate the transmission destination of the S OAP message.

  As described above, according to the information processing apparatus, the information processing method, and the program of the present invention, the print data generated by executing the printer driver program is attached to the SOAP message and transmitted to the image processing apparatus. Since the existing printer driver program can be used effectively, development costs can be reduced, and in the SOAP envelope information of the SOAP message, the image processing for the print data is instructed, so that highly functional processing can be performed in cooperation with other systems. The effect that can be realized is obtained.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a client PC equipped with Microsoft Windows (registered trademark) will be described as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an image processing system 10 includes a plurality of client PCs 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention that perform image processing such as image creation, processing, and editing, and document creation, and printing, scanning, facsimile, and the like. It is composed of a multifunction device 14 having each function, a printer server 15 for controlling the multifunction device 14, and a network 16 such as a LAN (local area network). Are connected to each other via a network 16.

  The client PC 12 includes a ROM 40 that stores a control program for controlling the entire system, a CPU 42 that executes various programs, a RAM 44 that temporarily stores data as a work area, and a display 46 that displays a setting screen for setting the contents of various processes. It has.

  Further, the client PC 12 further includes various programs including a program for realizing a SOAP message transmission processing routine to be described later, an application program for image processing or document creation, and a plurality of dedicated printer driver programs corresponding to each of the multifunction peripherals 14. An HDD 48 for storing a program, a mouse 50 as a pointing device, a keyboard 52 for inputting documents and symbols, a network interface 56 for performing communication via the network 16, and a bus 54 for connecting them to each other. The network interface 56 is connected to the network 16.

  In addition, the printer driver program is executed to execute print data including intermediate language data such as PDL, document data such as DocuWorks (registered trademark) of Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., and Acrobat (registered trademark) of Adobe Corporation. Is supposed to generate.

  A property setting screen of the printer driver program as shown in FIG. On this property setting screen, the connection port of the printer driver program can be specified, and the SOAP port is displayed in the list of connection ports. This SOAP port is implemented as a port monitor of Microsoft Windows (registered trademark), and is managed as one of the ports by the OS.

  The client PC 12 can be a conventionally known personal computer having a general configuration, and detailed description of other configurations is omitted in this embodiment.

  The printer server 15 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an HDD for storing various programs including application programs for providing Web services using SOAP and programs for performing image processing, and print data, and a network. 16 is provided with a network interface for communicating with the client PC 12 and the multi-function device 14 connected to 16.

  Further, load distribution printing is realized by a Web service, and the printer server 15 receives statuses of other printer servers (not shown) and a plurality of multi-function devices 14 by a SOAP message, and displays the status results. Accordingly, it has a function of outputting print data in a distributed manner.

  Note that the printer server 15 has a conventionally known general configuration, and description of other configurations is omitted. The multifunction machine 14 has conventionally known general functions, and a description of various functions and configurations is omitted.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  First, when the user operates the mouse 50 or the keyboard 52, the above-described property setting screen shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display 46, "SOAP port" is selected from the port list, and the "port configuration" button is clicked. When clicked, a SOAP message setting screen for setting a SOAP message as shown in FIG. 3 and a protocol setting screen for setting a protocol are displayed on the display 46.

  A plurality of printer driver programs are installed on the hard disk 48, and all of these printer driver programs are connected to the SOAP port, and all the ports to be connected may be the same port or for each printer driver program. Different SOAP ports may be used.

  In the SOAP message setting screen, a SOAP envelope including a SOAP header and a SOAP body is set so that print data generated by the printer driver program is attached to the SOAP message and transmitted.

  In the SOAP message setting screen, first, default settings are displayed for each of the setting fields of Name Space, Header, and Body. As the SOAP settings, the values of these default settings correspond to each Web service. Set by Here, it is possible to specify what kind of tag is generated in advance before printing. For example, by defining the SOAP NameSpace, Header, and Body, the transmission image when the FAX driver transmits the FAX. Is stored in a file server (not shown) as a log, and an instruction for processing to send a mail to the sender is described in each setting column by the user. As described above, depending on the setting contents, the print data is set to be attached to the SOAP message that conforms to the specifications of various Web services.

  Note that the print data or the like is encoded as, for example, SOAP Attachment as MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) and attached to the SOAP message.

  Then, when the “Protocol Setting” tab is clicked, the protocol setting tab page is displayed, and the user designates the address of TCP or HTTP, which is a lower protocol of SOAP, for example, the IP address of the transmission destination or the URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) is input.

  These settings may be output to a file and saved so that they can be read at another setting.

  Next, when the user creates data such as an image or a document on the client PC 12 and stores the data in the HDD 48 and instructs generation of print data based on the created data, a printer corresponding to the MFP 14 that is the transmission destination of the print data. While the driver program is executed, the SOAP message transmission processing routine shown in FIG.

  First, in step 100, it is determined whether print data has been generated. If the print data is generated by executing the printer driver program, the process proceeds to step 102. Note that the print data is composed of a plurality of pages. When the print data is generated for each page and the print data for one page is generated, the determination in step 100 is affirmed.

  In step 102, it is determined whether or not the SOAP header of the SOAP envelope has been transmitted. If the SOAP header has been transmitted, the process proceeds to step 110. On the other hand, print data for the first page has been generated. If nothing is transmitted at this stage, the print data generated in step 100 is temporarily stored in the RAM 44 in step 104, and the SOAP header set in the above SOAP message setting screen in step 106. In step 108, based on the acquired SOAP header setting information, information indicating the SOAP header is transmitted to the printer server 15 as a SOAP message.

  In step 110, it is determined whether or not the SOAP body of the SOAP envelope has been transmitted. If the SOAP body has been transmitted, the process proceeds to step 118. On the other hand, print data for the first page has been generated. If the SOAP body has not been transmitted at this stage, the print data generated in step 100 is temporarily stored in the RAM 44 in step 112, and the SOAP set on the SOAP message setting screen in step 114 is stored. The body setting information is acquired, and in step 116, information indicating the SOAP body is transmitted to the printer server 15 as a SOAP message based on the acquired SOAP body setting information.

  In step 118, the print data generated in step 100 or the print data stored in the RAM 44 in steps 104 and 112 is encoded into, for example, MIME. In the next step 120, the encoded print data is converted into a SOAP message. It is transmitted to the printer server 15 as attached data. In step 122, it is determined whether the print data has been completed. If there is a next page, the process returns to step 100. If all print data has been transmitted, the SOAP message transmission processing routine is executed. finish.

  Then, the printer server 15 receives the SOAP message and the encoded print data from the client PC 12 by the Web service, and transmits a job for fax transmission to a predetermined multifunction device 14 according to the status of the multifunction device 14. .

  The multi-function device 14 transmits the fax image to the printer server 15 along with the FAX driver based on the received job. The printer server 15 stores the received transmission image as a log in a file server (not shown), and further performs mail transmission processing to the sender.

  As described above, according to the image processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention, in the client PC, the print data generated by executing the printer driver program is attached to the SOAP message and transmitted to the printer server. Since the existing printer driver program can be used effectively without developing dedicated software for each MFP, the development cost can be reduced, and the image for the print data can be reduced in the SOAP envelope of the SOAP message. By instructing the processing, print data including advanced processing settings can be distributed to various Web services, and high-function processing can be realized in cooperation with a multifunction peripheral or a printer server.

  In addition, when the printer driver program generates document data in an intermediate format such as DocuWorks (registered trademark) or PDF as print data, these document data can be directly transferred to the Web service without changing the printer driver program. It can be distributed to the provided device.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the transmission destination of the print data is a printer server has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an arbitrary one that provides a Web service and performs image processing. It may be a device.

  Although the case where the data generated by executing the printer driver program is print data has been described as an example, the generated data may be XML data or a SOAP message. In this case, a SOAP message transmission processing routine is performed. In FIG. 5, the generated data is not encoded, and various tags set on the SOAP message setting screen may be added to the generated data and transmitted.

  Further, the case where the multifunction device is controlled by the printer server has been described as an example. However, when the multifunction device is equipped with a function for providing a Web service, a SOAP message and print data are sent from the client PC to the multifunction device. You may make it transmit directly.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an image figure of the property setting screen of the printer driver program displayed on the display of the client PC according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is an image figure of the SOAP message setting screen displayed on the display of client PC concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the SOAP message transmission process routine which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 Image processing system 12 Client PC
14 MFP 15 Printer server 16 Network 40 ROM
42 CPU
44 RAM
46 Display 48 Hard disk 50 Mouse 52 Keyboard

Claims (4)

An information processing apparatus that transmits print data using an SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) to an image processing apparatus that performs image processing connected via a network, and receives Web services from the image processing apparatus Because
Storage means for storing a printer driver program;
Print data generation means for generating the print data by executing the printer driver program stored in the storage means;
A SOAP envelope setting means for setting SOAP header information and SOAP body information of SOAP envelope information for instructing image processing for the print data on a SOAP message setting screen displayed on the display ;
SOAP message generation means for generating a SOAP message including SOAP envelope information set by the SOAP envelope setting means ;
A transmission unit that attaches the print data generated by the print data generation unit to the SOAP message generated by the SOAP message generation unit based on predetermined protocol information and transmits it to the image processing apparatus;
An information processing apparatus including: Further comprising a protocol setting means for setting the pre-Symbol protocol information,
Before Symbol transmitting means based on the set protocol information by the protocol setting means, the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein transmitting the print data attached to the said SOAP message to the image processing apparatus. An information processing method for an information processing apparatus that transmits print data using SOAP to an image processing apparatus that performs image processing connected via a network, and that receives a Web service from the image processing apparatus. And
Store the printer driver program
Generating the print data by executing the stored printer driver program;
In the SOAP message setting screen displayed on the display, set SOAP header information and SOAP body information of SOAP envelope information instructing image processing for the print data ,
Generating a SOAP message including the set SOAP envelope information;
An information processing method comprising: transmitting the generated print data to the image processing apparatus by attaching the generated print data to the generated SOAP message based on predetermined protocol information. A computer that transmits print data using SOAP to an image processing apparatus that performs image processing connected via a network, and receives a web service from the image processing apparatus.
Storage means for storing a printer driver program;
Print data generation means for generating the print data by executing the printer driver program stored in the storage means;
A SOAP envelope setting means for setting SOAP header information and SOAP body information of SOAP envelope information for instructing image processing for the print data on a SOAP message setting screen displayed on the display ;
A SOAP message generating means for generating a SOAP message including SOAP envelope information set by the SOAP envelope setting means; A program for functioning as a transmission unit that attaches print data generated by a data generation unit and transmits it to the image processing apparatus.

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