JP5955245B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a function of applying print settings specified at the time of creating print data.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image processing apparatus having a function for applying print settings designated at the time of print data creation to print the print data on a print setting screen provided via an installed printer driver. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  A printer driver that uses a language that matches the language setting of the PC as a display language is selectively installed in a PC (Personal Computer) as an image processing apparatus having such a function. For example, a shared PC installed in a public place such as an airport or a hotel lounge is used by an unspecified number of users with different native languages. The language setting of the PC is usually the language of the location or English. In this case, the display language of the printer driver installed in the PC, that is, the display language of the print setting screen for changing the printing conditions is the same language as the PC language setting.

JP 2007-86969 A

  However, in the conventional technology as described above, a user who cannot understand the display language of the print setting screen cannot specify an appropriate print setting, and thus cannot obtain a desired print result. there were.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a print setting screen to the user even when the language setting of the PC is different from the user's native language or an understandable language. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of improving the possibility of understanding the contents of the image and obtaining a desired print result.

In order to solve the above problems, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention is an image processing apparatus that sets print conditions and generates print data from a document file, and displays a print setting screen related to the print conditions. Using the information of the document file acquired by the screen display unit that receives input from the user via the print setting screen, the file information acquisition unit that acquires the information of the document file, and the file information acquisition unit, A language determination unit for determining the type of language;
A setting screen display control unit configured to display the print setting screen using a character string corresponding to the language type determined by the language determination unit.

  According to the present invention, even when the language setting of the PC is different from the user's native language or understandable language, the possibility of allowing the user to understand the contents of the print setting screen is improved, and a desired print result is obtained. An image processing apparatus that can be obtained can be provided.

It is a block diagram explaining the structural example of host PC. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver and an OS. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a print setting dialog. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display when Japanese is set as an auxiliary language. It is a figure which shows the example of character string data. 6 is a flowchart for explaining print processing. 7 is a flowchart illustrating print setting acquisition processing in step S101 in FIG. It is the figure which showed the example of a display of a language selection dialog when two languages, Japanese and Chinese, which are used as an auxiliary language are candidates. It is a flowchart explaining the file information acquisition process in step S201 of FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the language determination process in step S202 of FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the language determination process in step S202 of FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating print setting dialog display processing in step S209 of FIG. It is a block diagram explaining the structural example of host PC. It is a figure which shows the example of the document file for language settings. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver and an OS. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating print setting acquisition processing.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following description, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it can change suitably.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a host PC 100 as an image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The host PC 100 is an image processing apparatus that can set print conditions and generate print data from a document file.

  The host PC 100 generates print data based on the document data to be printed acquired from the external storage 300 or the Web server 400 via the network 500, and transmits the generated print data to the connected printer 200. Printing based on the print data can be performed. The host PC 100 is connected to a monitor 600 as a screen display unit, displays a print setting dialog as a print setting screen to be described later, and can accept an input from a user using an input unit (not shown).

  Such a host PC 100 includes a network interface 110, a target file storage unit 120, an external storage connection interface 130, an OS (Operating System) 140, an application 150, a printer connection interface 160, a monitor connection interface 180, And a printer driver 700.

  The network interface 110 includes connection means for connecting electrical signal lines such as a LAN (Local Area Network) port, a network interface card for controlling the connection means, and the like, and transmits and receives data via the network 500.

  The target file storage unit 120 stores a cache file obtained by caching a part of the acquired Web page so that the Web browser application included in the application 150 reduces the influence of the network delay and speeds up the display on the monitor 600. This is a storage area for temporary storage.

  The external storage connection interface 130 includes, for example, a connection means for connecting an electric signal line such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port or an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineer) 1394 port, an interface card for controlling the connection, and the like. Access to a document file existing in the connected external storage 300 is enabled.

  The OS 140 is basic software for controlling the host PC 100, and provides functions such as an interface that abstracts hardware and notification of the current operation status of the host PC 100 to software such as the application 150 and the printer driver 700. A spool file generation function to be described later is provided. Further, the OS 140 performs management related to regional settings such as a display language, a time zone, a unit system, and a date / time format according to the region where the host PC 100 is used.

  The application 150 is software for viewing, editing, and printing a document file, and an appropriate application is selected and used according to the type of the target document file. Examples of the type of application 150 include a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a web browser.

  The printer connection interface 160 includes, for example, connection means for connecting electrical signal lines such as a printer port and a USB port, and an interface card for controlling the connection, and transmits print data created by the printer driver 700 to the connected printer 200. To do.

  The monitor connection interface 180 includes, for example, connection means for connecting electric signal lines such as an analog RGB port and a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) port, an interface card for controlling the connection, and the monitor 600 connected to the web page, A print setting dialog or the like to be described later is displayed.

  The printer driver 700 is software that accepts a print request for a document file from the application 150 and creates print data that can be printed by the printer 200.

  The printer 200 is an image forming apparatus including, for example, an electrophotographic print engine, and can print an image based on print data transmitted via the printer connection interface 160 of the host PC 100 on a recording medium such as paper. it can.

  The external storage 300 is a portable storage medium such as a USB memory or a DVD-R, and is automatically recognized when connected to the host PC 100. Recognition by the host PC 100 enables access to the stored document file, and the user can select a desired document file and use the application 150 to view, edit, and print the document file. it can.

  The Web server 400 provides a Web page identified by a URL (Unified Resource Locator). In the application 150, in particular, in the Web browser application, when the user designates the URL of the Web page desired to be browsed, the Web browser application acquires the Web page from the Web server 400 via the network 500. Further, the Web browser application displays the contents of the acquired Web page via the monitor 600. The user can browse, edit, and print the Web page displayed on the monitor 600 as a text file.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the printer driver 700 and the OS 140 according to the first embodiment. The OS 140 includes a spool file creation unit 141 that creates a spool file in response to a print request from the application 150, a data transmission unit 142, an application information provision unit 143, a system information provision unit 144, and a monitor control unit 145. Prepare.

  The spool file created by the spool file creation unit 141 means an intermediate file obtained by converting the document file so that the printer driver 700 can process the print request of the document file by the application 150. A spool file is composed of drawing commands for characters and figures. For example, Windows (registered trademark), which is an OS of Microsoft Corporation, uses formats such as EMF (Enhanced Meta File) and XPS (XML Paper Specification).

  The data transmission unit 142 controls the printer connection interface 160 and outputs the print data created by the printer driver 700 to the printer connection interface 160. The printer connection interface 160 transmits the input print data to the printer 200.

  The application information providing unit 143 is an interface for providing information related to the currently executed application to the file information obtaining unit 716 of the printer driver 700. Information to be provided includes information for identifying another software that is calling a certain software, information on an OS resource used by the certain software, and information on what type of document file the certain software is intended for There is something like.

  The system information providing unit 144 is an interface for providing information on the OS 140 and the host PC 100, and can also provide information on regional settings, for example.

  The monitor control unit 145 controls the monitor connection interface 180 and causes the monitor 600 to display a Web page acquired by the Web browser application, a print setting dialog described later, and the like.

  The printer driver 700 includes a print setting instruction unit 710 that receives print settings from a user, a print data creation unit 720 that creates print data according to the print settings, and a print setting storage unit 730 that stores the print settings.

  In the application 150, prior to a print request to the OS 140, a print setting instruction request to the printer driver 700 is generated for specifying print settings. The print setting instruction unit 710 causes the user to perform print settings by displaying a print setting dialog via the monitor 600 in response to a request from the application 150.

  Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of the print setting dialog 1500 according to the present embodiment. In this display example, the system setting language is English. Therefore, the language of the displayed default character string is also English. Note that the print setting dialog according to the present embodiment is configured such that an auxiliary language can be set separately from the language of the fault character string.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example when Japanese is set as the auxiliary language. As shown in FIG. 4, when the auxiliary language is set, the auxiliary character string described in the auxiliary language is displayed together with the default character string.

  3 and 4, a selection box 1510 and a selection box 1610 accept selection of the size or type of paper used for printing. The selection box 1520 and the selection box 1620 are related to the setting of aggregate printing, and accept selection when printing a plurality of pages on one sheet. A selection box 1530 and a selection box 1630 accept selection of color printing or monochrome printing. A selection box 1540 and a selection box 1640 relate to setting of print quality, and accept selection regarding an image and a printing speed. A selection box 1550 and a selection box 1650 are settings relating to double-sided printing, and accept the selection of the orientation when printing on both sides of a sheet. The Print button 1560 and the Print button 1660 accept a print execution instruction based on the print setting selected in the selection box. A Cancel button 1570 and a Cancel button 1670 cancel the print settings selected in the selection box and cancel the print execution.

  Returning to FIG. 2 again, the print setting instruction unit 710 includes a print setting dialog control unit 711, a print setting management unit 712, a character string storage unit 713, a font storage unit 714, a language determination unit 715, and file information acquisition. Part 716.

  The print setting dialog control unit 711 displays a print setting dialog for the user to make print settings based on the control of the print setting management unit 712. In addition, the print setting dialog control unit 711 acquires the print setting content set by the user. Note that the language used for displaying the character string of the print setting dialog is a system setting language provided from the system information providing unit 144, that is, a default character string corresponding to the region setting of the region where the host PC 100 is installed. It is set based on the language and the language used for the document file determined by the language determination unit 715 described later.

  The print setting management unit 712 controls the information of the entire print setting instruction unit 710 and controls the print setting dialog control unit 711 to manage the display of character strings in the print setting dialog. The print setting management unit 712 stores the print settings set by the user via the print setting dialog in the print setting storage unit 730.

  The character string storage unit 713 stores a character string displayed in the print setting dialog. In the present embodiment, the language of the character string displayed in the print setting dialog changes depending on the situation. Therefore, the character string storage unit 713 manages the language of the character string as character string data as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of character string data 1700. Character strings corresponding to each language are stored in a table format. Here, a column 1710 is an ID assigned to each character string. A column 1720 is a character string in English notation which is a default language according to the present embodiment. A column 1730 is a character string in Japanese notation that is an auxiliary language according to the present embodiment. Each row stores a character string of each language corresponding to ID 1710. In the example shown in FIG. 5, only two languages, English and Japanese, are stored. However, when supporting three or more languages, there may be a plurality of columns depending on the number of support. Of course it is possible.

  The font storage unit 714 stores a font used for drawing a character string displayed in the print setting dialog.

  The language determination unit 715 examines information on the document file that the application 150 is trying to print, and determines which language is used for the document file.

  The file information acquisition unit 716 makes an inquiry to the application information providing unit 143 of the OS 140 in order to acquire information on the application 150 that is currently displaying the print setting dialog and information on the document file that the application 150 is about to print. I do.

  Next, the print data creation unit 720 and the print setting storage unit 730 will be described. The print data creation unit 720 includes a spool file input unit 721 to which the spool file generated by the spool file generation unit 141 is input, a spool file analysis unit 722 that analyzes the input spool file and obtains drawing data, A print data creation unit 723 that creates print data based on the drawing data and print settings, a print data output unit 724 that outputs the print data created by the print data creation unit 723 to the data transmission unit 142, and a user setting A print setting acquisition unit 725 that acquires the print settings from the print setting storage unit 730. The print setting storage unit 730 stores print settings set by the user via a print setting dialog displayed on the monitor 600 based on an instruction from the print setting management unit 712. In the present invention, the print data is a page description language that can be printed by the printer 200, and examples thereof include page description languages such as Postscript, PCL (Printer Control Language), XPS, and last.

  Next, the operation according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining print processing according to the present embodiment.

  First, when a print request from the application 150 is generated, the print setting management unit 712 of the printer driver 700 controls the print setting dialog control unit 711 to display the print setting dialog via the monitor 600. When the user performs desired print settings via the print setting dialog, the printer driver 700 acquires the contents of the set print settings (step S101).

  When a print instruction is input from the user, the application 150 issues a print instruction to the OS 140. The spool file creation unit 141 of the OS 140 instructed to print creates a spool file. The created spool file is output to the print data creation unit 720 of the printer driver 700, and print data corresponding to the print settings set by the user is created (step S102).

  In step S <b> 103, the data transmission unit 142 of the OS 140 transmits the print data created by the print data creation unit 720 to the printer 200 via the printer connection interface 160. The printer 200 that has received the print data prints an image based on the print data on a recording medium such as paper.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining print setting acquisition processing in step S101 of FIG.

  In step S <b> 201, the file information acquisition unit 716 of the print setting instruction unit 710 receives an application from the application information providing unit 143 of the OS 140 in order to acquire information on the document file that the application 150 requesting the print request desires to print. Ask for information.

  When the information on the document file to be printed is acquired based on the application information, the language determination unit 715 examines the information on the document file and determines which language is used for the document file (step S202). ).

  Then, the print setting management unit 712 confirms whether or not the language determination by the language determination unit 715 is successful. If there is no candidate language to be used as the auxiliary language (NO in step S203), the print setting management unit 712 sets no auxiliary language (step S208).

  On the other hand, if there is a candidate language to be used as an auxiliary language (YES in step S203) and there is a single candidate (NO in step S204), the print setting management unit 712 sets the candidate as an auxiliary language (step S204). S205). If there is a candidate language to be used as an auxiliary language (YES in step S203) and there are a plurality of candidates (YES in step S204), the print setting management unit 712 controls the print setting dialog control unit 711 to monitor 600. A language selection dialog, which will be described later, is displayed via the button, and the user is allowed to select from among a plurality of candidates whether one of the languages is set as the auxiliary language.

  When the usage language of the auxiliary language is selected (step S206 YES), the print setting management unit 712 sets the selected language as the usage language of the auxiliary language (step S207). On the other hand, when the use language of the auxiliary language is not selected (NO in step S206), the print setting management unit 712 sets no auxiliary language (step S208).

  When the setting of the language used for the auxiliary language is completed, the print setting management unit 712 notifies the print setting dialog control unit 711 of the character string displayed in the print setting dialog. Receiving the notification, the print setting dialog control unit 711 displays the notified use language as an auxiliary language on the print setting dialog (step S209).

  Finally, when the user completes the print setting via the print setting dialog, the print setting dialog control unit 711 ends the display of the print setting dialog (step S210).

  Here, the language selection dialog described above will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a language selection dialog 1800 and a language selection dialog 1900 when two languages, Japanese and Chinese, are used as auxiliary languages.

  A language selection dialog 1800 shown in FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a state where Japanese is selected as a language to be used as an auxiliary language. A language selection dialog 1900 shown in FIG. 8B is a diagram showing a state in which Chinese is selected as a language to be used as an auxiliary language. The language used can be set by selecting one of the radio button 1810, the radio button 1910 or the radio button 1820, and the radio button 1920. In the example shown in FIG. 8A, when the radio button 1810 (radio button 1910) is selected, “select language” is displayed in Japanese notation next to the default character string “Select Language”. On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 8B, when the radio button 1820 (radio button 1920) is selected, it corresponds to “select language” in Japanese notation next to the default character string “Select Language”. A character string in Chinese is displayed.

  The OK button 1830 and the OK button 1930 accept the selection determination of the language used by the radio button, and the Cancel button 1840 and the Cancel button 1940 cancel the selection determination of the language used by the radio button. Here, when the user presses the Cancel button 1840 and the Cancel button 1940, the print setting management unit 712 sets no auxiliary language.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the file information acquisition process in step S201 of FIG.

  First, in step S400, the file information acquisition unit 716 makes a print request, that is, inquires the application information providing unit 143 of the OS 140 for the application information of the calling application 150, and acquires it.

  Then, the file information acquisition unit 716 determines from the acquired application information whether the type of the application 150 is a Web browser. If the type of the application 150 is a web browser (YES in step S401), the file information acquisition unit 716 stores the cache file of the website currently displayed by the application 150 via the monitor 600 as the target file. Whether or not it exists in the unit 120 is confirmed. If the cache file for the website exists in the target file storage unit 120 and can be acquired (YES in step S402), the file information acquisition unit 716 returns the directory path information in which the cache file is stored. The process ends as a value (step S403).

  On the other hand, when the cache file of the website does not exist in the target file storage unit 120 and cannot be acquired (NO in step S402), the file information acquisition unit 716 uses the network interface 110 to store the target website. Download the file. That is, the file information acquisition unit 716 makes an inquiry to the application 150 that is a Web browser, and acquires the URL of the Web site that is currently displayed by the application 150 via the monitor 600 (step S404).

  Next, the file information acquisition unit 716 causes the network interface 110 to access the Web server 400 based on the acquired URL, and downloads a file necessary for displaying the Web page of the Web site as a text file (step S405). Then, the file information acquisition unit 716 gives a file name capable of recognizing the URL to the downloaded document file and stores it in the target file storage unit 120. Finally, the file information acquisition unit 716 ends the processing using the file name of the document file stored in the target file storage unit 120 as a return value (step S407).

  By the way, when the type of the application 150 is not a Web browser (NO in step S401), the file information acquisition unit 716 acquires a list of resources used by the application 150 (step S408). Here, the resource will be described. Normally, the application 150 executes various processes by using PC resources called resources. Resource types include image and font data resources displayed on the monitor 600, external program resources such as an external library called DLL (Dynamic Link Library), services provided by the OS 140, and other applications operating in cooperation, There are a setting file that defines the operation of the application 150 and a file resource such as a currently used document file.

  In order to identify the document file that the application 150 that has requested printing wants to print, the file information acquisition unit 716 selects a file resource from the resource list, and a list of file names of text files corresponding to those resources Is acquired (step S409).

  Next, the file information acquisition unit 716 checks the storage location of the document file from the list of acquired file names, and selects the one where it is the specified storage location. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the prescribed storage location of the document file is the external storage 300. Therefore, the file information acquisition unit 716 selects a document file stored in the external storage 300 (step S410). The prescribed storage location of the document file is not limited to the external storage 300 and can be set freely. Finally, the file information acquisition unit 716 ends the process using the file name of the acquired document file as a return value (step S411).

  10a and 10b are flowcharts for explaining the language determination process in step S202 of FIG.

  First, the language determination unit 715 determines whether or not the document file acquired in the file information acquisition process in step S201 of FIG. 7, that is, the document file based on the file name returned as the return value by the file information acquisition unit 716 includes text data. Confirm. If the document file includes text data (YES in step S500), the language determination unit 715 sequentially selects and reads one character included in the text (step S501). The language determination unit 715 checks the type of the read character and determines whether the character is unique to a certain language. For example, in Unicode, a character code allocation range is determined for each language, and the language determination unit 715 determines whether characters in Japanese character areas such as hiragana and katakana and Korean character areas such as Korean syllables exist. The determination is made depending on whether or not.

  If the read character is language-specific (YES in step S502), the language determination unit 715 confirms whether the printer driver 700 supports display in that language. Language display support by the printer driver 700 is determined by whether or not there is a column corresponding to the corresponding language in the table shown in FIG. If there is language display support by the printer driver 700 (YES in step S503), the language determination unit 715 increments the counter value corresponding to the language by 1 (step S504). It should be noted that the counter according to the present embodiment is secured as a temporary storage variable for each language in a RAM (Random Access Memory) on the host PC 100 (not shown) at the start of language determination processing, and at the same time, the counter value is 0 and initial. It will be

  The language determination unit 715 executes the processing in steps S501 to S504 for all characters, and when this is completed (YES in step S505), it checks whether the counter values for all languages are 0 or not. . In other words, the language determination unit 715 confirms the counter values of all languages, and confirms whether or not there is a language in which the value is not 0, that is, the use of language-specific characters is detected.

  If the values of the counter values of all languages are not 0 (NO in step S506), the language determination unit 715 ends the process as a language candidate that uses a language whose counter value is not 0 as an auxiliary language (step S507). ).

  On the other hand, when the counter values of all languages are 0 (YES in step S506) and the document file does not include text data (NO in step S500), the language determination unit 715 determines the language specific to the file name of the document file. Check if characters are used. If language-specific characters are used in the file name (YES in step S508), the language determination unit 715 ends the process as a language candidate that uses the language used in the file name as an auxiliary language. (Step S509).

  If no language-specific characters are used in the file name (NO in step S508), the language determination unit 715 performs the same language determination as described above for another document file at the location where the language file is stored. (Step S510). If the language determination for another document file has succeeded (YES in step S511), the language determination unit 715 sets the language that has been successfully determined as a candidate language to be used as an auxiliary language (step S512). On the other hand, if the language determination for another document file has not succeeded (NO in step S511), the process is terminated with no candidate language used as an auxiliary language (step S513).

  In the present embodiment, the presence / absence of language-specific characters is used to determine the specification language, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, language determination can be performed based on criteria such as whether or not a language-specific word is used, and when the application 150 is a Web browser, language determination based on domain information included in the URL can also be performed.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the print setting dialog display process in step S209 of FIG.

  First, the print setting management unit 712 confirms whether or not there is a candidate for the language to be used as the auxiliary language based on the result of the language determination by the language determination unit 715 and determines whether or not the auxiliary language is set. If there is no auxiliary language setting (NO in step S301), the print setting management unit 712 sets all default character strings as display character strings (step S308).

  On the other hand, if there is an auxiliary language setting (YES in step S301), the print setting management unit 712 performs processing for adding the auxiliary character string to the display character string.

  In other words, the print setting management unit 712 selects one ID from the character string data 1700 stored in the character string storage unit 713, and acquires a corresponding default character string (step S302). Subsequently, the print setting management unit 712 obtains an auxiliary language character string corresponding to the selected ID (step S303).

  Next, the print setting management unit 712 compares the default character string with the auxiliary character string. If the default character string and the auxiliary character string are the same (YES in step S304), the print setting management unit 712 sets the default character string as the display character string (step S305). On the other hand, if the default character string and the auxiliary character string are not the same (NO in step S304), the print setting management unit 712 sets the combination of the default character string and the auxiliary character string as the display character string (step S306). For example, when the default character string is “Print Setting” and the auxiliary character string is “print setting”, the print setting management unit 712 sets the display character string to “Print Setting (print setting)”.

  The print setting management unit 712 executes the processes according to steps S302 to S307 described above for all character string data (step S307).

  By the way, depending on the language setting of the OS 140, a font that cannot display the characters of the auxiliary language may be used. Therefore, the print setting management unit 712 appropriately displays the display character string when using the currently used font. Check if it can be displayed. If the display character string cannot be displayed properly (NO in step S309), the print setting management unit 712 acquires a font capable of displaying the auxiliary language from the font storage unit 714, and selects a font used for displaying the print setting dialog. Change (step S310). On the other hand, if the display character string can be displayed appropriately (YES in step S309), the print setting management unit 712 notifies the print setting dialog control unit 711 of the character string displayed in the print setting dialog, and this is sent via the monitor 600. It is displayed (step S311).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, even when the language setting of the PC is different from the user's native language or understandable language, the language of the same language as that used in the document file to be printed is selected. Since the character string is displayed in the print setting dialog, the possibility of allowing the user to understand the contents of the print setting screen can be improved, and a desired print result can be obtained.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a host PC 100 ′ as an image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Similarly to the host PC 100 according to the first embodiment, the host PC 100 ′ is also an image processing apparatus that can set print conditions and generate print data from a document file.

  The host PC 100 ′ according to the second embodiment includes a language setting document file 170 in addition to the configuration of the host PC 100 according to the first embodiment. Here, the language setting document file is a document file having contents capable of reliably determining the language in the language determination process of the printer driver 700 ′ according to the second embodiment.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the language setting document file 170. The language setting document file 170 according to the present embodiment is configured in a simple text format. Here, FIG. 13A is an example of a document file that is always determined as Japanese. The language setting document file 1701 includes a part of hiragana, katakana, and yen currency symbols (characters unique to Japanese). ¥). FIG. 13B is an example of a document file that is always determined as English, and the language setting document file 1702 is composed of a part of the English alphabet and a dollar currency symbol ($) as in Japanese. . The content of the language setting document file is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 13, and any format can be used as long as the language can be specified.

  FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the printer driver 700 ′ and the OS 140 according to the second embodiment. Since the OS 140 has the same configuration as the OS 140 according to the first embodiment, a description thereof is omitted here. The printer driver 700 ′ includes a language setting storage unit 717 in addition to the configuration of the printer driver 700 according to the first embodiment. The language setting storage unit 717 stores the language identifier of the language used as the auxiliary language when the previous print setting dialog was displayed. For example, if the language used as the auxiliary language is Japanese when the previous print setting dialog is displayed, the language setting storage unit 717 stores “Japanese” as the language identifier. Since the other configuration of the printer 700 ′ is the same as the configuration of the printer driver 700 of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted here.

  Next, the operation according to the present embodiment will be described. The operation according to the present embodiment differs only in the print setting acquisition process described in FIG. 7 of the first embodiment, and other operations can be performed in the same way. The print setting acquisition process according to this embodiment will be described below.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart for describing print setting acquisition processing according to the present embodiment.

  In step S <b> 601, the file information acquisition unit 716 of the print setting instruction unit 710 receives an application from the application information providing unit 143 of the OS 140 in order to acquire information on the document file that the application 150 requesting the print requests. Ask for information.

  When the information on the document file to be printed is acquired based on the application information, the language determination unit 715 examines the information on the document file and determines which language is used for the document file (step 602). ).

  Then, the print setting management unit 712 has a candidate for a language to be used as an auxiliary language (YES in step S603). If there is a single candidate (NO in step S604), the print setting management unit 712 selects the candidate. It is set as an auxiliary language (step S605). If there is a candidate language to be used as an auxiliary language (YES in step S603) and there are a plurality of candidates (YES in step S604), the print setting management unit 712 displays a language selection dialog to be described later via the monitor 600. The user is allowed to select whether a language is set as the auxiliary language used from a plurality of candidates.

  When the usage language of the auxiliary language is selected (step S606 YES), the print setting management unit 712 sets the selected language as the usage language of the auxiliary language (step S607). In addition, the print setting management unit 712 stores the auxiliary language installed in step S605 and step S607 in the language setting storage unit 717 (step S608).

  On the other hand, if there is no candidate for the specification language to be used as the auxiliary language (NO in step S603) or the language used for the auxiliary language is not selected (NO in step S606), the print setting management unit 712 displays the previous print setting dialog. It is checked whether or not the language identifier of the used language set as the auxiliary language is stored in the storage language setting storage unit 717. If a language identifier is stored in the language setting storage unit 717 (YES in step S609), the print setting management unit 712 acquires and sets a language corresponding to the language identifier as an auxiliary language (step S610). On the other hand, if no language identifier is stored in the language setting storage unit 717 (NO in step S609), the print setting management unit 712 sets no auxiliary language (step S611).

  When the setting of the language used for the auxiliary language is completed, the print setting management unit 712 notifies the print setting dialog control unit 711 of the character string displayed in the print setting dialog. Upon receiving the notification, the print setting dialog control unit 711 displays the received language as an auxiliary language on the print setting dialog (step S612).

  Finally, when the print setting via the print setting dialog is completed by the user, the print setting dialog control unit 711 ends the display of the print setting dialog (step S613).

  In the present embodiment, the language identifier is not stored in the language setting storage unit 717 during the initial printing. In this case, when printing is to be performed once with the language setting document file 170, a print setting dialog using the language constituting the language setting document file 170 as the language used for the auxiliary language is displayed via the monitor 600. The setting storage unit 717 stores the language identifier of the auxiliary language. Actually, the print processing is not executed in the language setting document file 170, and when a subsequent printing target document file is to be printed, the desired auxiliary language stored in the language setting storage unit 717 is used. The print setting dialog can be displayed.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the language that can be understood by the user even when the language cannot be determined from the contents of the document file by storing the language used immediately before displayed in the print setting dialog. It can be displayed in the print setting dialog as the auxiliary language specification language. In addition, a document file whose language can be reliably determined is prepared in advance, and the document file is first subjected to print processing, so that the language desired by the user is used as the auxiliary language specification language in subsequent printing of the document file. The print setting dialog can be displayed.

  In the description of the present invention, the apparatus connected to the host PC has been described as a printer. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to, for example, an MFP, a copying machine, and the like.

100,100 'host PC
110 Network interface 120 Target file storage unit 130 External storage connection interface 140 OS
141 Spool file creation unit 142 Data transmission unit 143 Application information providing unit 144 System information providing unit 145 Monitor control unit 150 Application 160 Printer connection interface 170 Language setting document file 180 Monitor connection interface 200 Printer 300 External storage 400 Web server 500 Network 700 , 700 'printer driver 710 print setting instruction unit 711 print setting dialog control unit 712 print setting management unit 713 character string storage unit 714 font storage unit 715 language determination unit 716 file information acquisition unit 717 language setting storage unit 720 print data creation unit 721 Spool file input unit 722 Spool file analysis unit 723 Print data creation unit 724 Print data output unit 725 Print setting acquisition unit 73 The print setting storage unit

Claims (6)

An image processing apparatus that sets print conditions and generates print data from a document file,
A screen display unit that displays a print setting screen related to the print conditions, and receives an input from the user via the print setting screen;
A file information acquisition unit for acquiring information of the document file;
A language determination unit for determining a language type using the information of the document file acquired by the file information acquisition unit;
An image processing apparatus comprising: a setting screen display control unit configured to display the print setting screen using a character string corresponding to the language type determined by the language determination unit. 2. The language determination unit according to claim 1, wherein, when text data is included in the document file, the language type is determined by using a character code of a character included in the text data as the information. Image processing apparatus. The language determining unit, if not the text data included in the document file, using the characters included in the attribute information of the document file as the information, according to claim 2, wherein the determining the type of language Image processing apparatus. The file information acquisition unit searches for another document file that exists in the same storage location as the storage location of the document file, acquires information ,
4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the language determination unit determines a language type using the information of another document file. 5.   When there are a plurality of language type candidates, the setting screen display control unit displays a language selection screen for prompting selection of one language from the plurality of candidates via the screen display unit, and the language selection screen is displayed. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an input from a user is received through the image processing apparatus. A language storage unit that stores history information of the type of language determined by the language determination unit;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the language determination unit determines a language type based on the history information.