JP2001312387A - Device and method for controlling printing and print system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a user having a manager authority determine whether or not authentication information is to be preserved. SOLUTION: When a user, who longs in, has the manager authority and that user opens the picture of print setting, a check box 603 for instructing whether or not a password is to be preserved is displayed on the picture and when the user does not have the manager authority, that check box 603 is not displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control method and apparatus in a system including information processing such as a personal computer and a printer, and a medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a job accounting system has been commercialized which counts the number of used paper sheets for each user who uses a printer connected to a network and charges the data based on the data. .

In a job accounting system, accounting information such as the number of prints is managed for each user. For this reason, when a user uses a printer belonging to the job accounting system, it is usual that the user can use the printer only after being authenticated by the system.
A user inputs authentication information such as an ID and a password into the system before executing a print job, and receives authentication.

[0004]

When this job accounting system is realized by a computer, it is realized in an environment of an operating system (OS). At this time, depending on the type of OS, a plurality of authority levels can be defined. However, only one method of setting job accounting is provided. For example, a function for changing whether authentication information can be saved or not can be changed. Such,
There was a problem that a flexible operation method could not be provided to the administrator.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and provides a method for storing a plurality of authentication information in an OS capable of defining a plurality of authority levels, thereby providing a user with a high degree of freedom to an authority. It is an object of the present invention to provide a print control apparatus and method and a print system that provide a flexible operation method.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention has the following arrangement.

A printing control device for performing a user authentication process during a printing process, comprising: a designation unit for designating whether or not the authentication information is to be held; Holding means for holding the authentication information, authentication request means for transmitting the authentication information held by the holding means to the authentication server and requesting authentication, and output means for outputting print data to the printing apparatus when the authentication is successful And

[0008] Preferably, the user is provided with an authority level corresponding to the identifier, and when the user is given a predetermined authority level, the user is further provided with an enabling means for enabling the designating means. Prepare.

[0009] Preferably, there is provided a counting means for counting information of a printing amount including the number of prints to be printed based on the printing data outputted by the output means, and transmitting the information of the counted printing amount to a counting server. Further prepare.

Preferably, the authentication server and the print control device are connected via a communication network, and a plurality of printing devices are connected to the communication network.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] A job accounting system suitable for applying the present invention will be described below.

<Overview of Components of Job Accounting System> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a job accounting system. This system includes computers 101 and 102 as clients, a computer 1001 as a job accounting server, a conventional printer 103, and a printer 104 having a job accounting function. Computer 101, 10
In 2, various application programs are executed,
The output from the application program is printed by the printer 103 or 104.

Before describing the entire system, a description will be given of a job accounting server application, a job accounting client application, a printer with a job accounting function, and the like, which are components of the hardware or software.

(Printer with Job Accounting Function) A printer with a job accounting function has the functions of a normal (conventional) printer, the number of pages printed, the paper size, and whether to perform duplex / single-sided printing.
It has a job accounting function for accumulating and managing monochrome printing for each user and an authentication function for authenticating users. User authentication is a function that checks authentication information sent from a job accounting client application, which will be described later, with user-specific information stored in advance, and responds as to whether or not to authenticate the user as an authorized user. is there.

(Conventional Printer) A conventional printer has no job accounting function and performs printing based on received print data.

(Job Accounting Server Application) The job accounting server application provides a conventional printer without a job accounting function with a function similar to the job accounting function of a printer with a job accounting function. The job accounting server application is executed on a server computer functioning as a job accounting server, and the function is equivalent to a printer having a job accounting function without a printing function.

This function can be roughly divided into two. The first is a user authentication function, and the second is a job accounting function. The user authentication function is the same as that of a printer with a job accounting function. However, since the job accounting server application does not have a printing function, it cannot be generated while printing job accounting information. Therefore, the job accounting function accumulates and manages job accounting information transmitted from a job accounting client application.

(Job Accounting Client Application) The job accounting client application has roughly two functions. First
There is a user authentication function. When the authentication is requested from the printer driver, the job accounting client application transmits the authentication information received with the request to the job accounting server application or the printer with the job accounting function, receives the authentication result, and returns the authentication result to the printer driver.

The second is a function for generating job accounting information. This function is performed only when the printer to be used is a conventional printer that is not a printer with a job accounting function. The job accounting client application obtains information regarding printing as described later, and generates job accounting information such as the number of print pages and size from the information. Then, the generated job accounting information is transmitted to the job accounting server application. The second function functions only when a computer having a job accounting server application exists on the network.

In this embodiment, these authentication functions,
Although the job accounting function is realized in a single module, it may be a module for each function.

(Printer Driver) Printer drivers can be classified into two types in this embodiment.

The first is a printer driver corresponding to the job accounting function. This printer driver has an authentication function for realizing a UI for a user authentication request on a computer screen prior to printing, and issuing the authentication request to a job accounting client application. Further, it has a function of passing information serving as a basis for job accounting information, such as the number of print pages and a size, to a job accounting client application based on print data generated in response to a print request received from an application.
However, printers used include a printer with a job accounting function and a conventional printer without the function. When a printer with a job accounting function is used, the job accounting information or its base information does not have to be passed to the job accounting client application. In this case, the latter function may not be provided.

The second type is a printer driver of a conventional printer, which does not support the job accounting function. It does not have both of the two functions described above.

<Details of Job Accounting System> Next, the operation of each unit in the configuration of FIG. 1 will be described. In particular, the operation of the job accounting client application 101 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

The computer 1001 connected to the print network has a job accounting server application 100. Server computer 10
01, the client computer 101, and the client computer 102, the operation system (O
S) is running, and the OSs running on the respective client computers 101 and 102 are
1, OS2.

In the client computer 101, the application 101a is an OS GDI 101
b (graphic device interface: system for performing graphic drawing in OS1)
Call I (Application Programming Interface).

The job accounting client application 101e monitors (hooks) the API.
(Step S1301 in FIG. 13). This counts how many times the API for instructing a page break or paper discharge is called, and obtains the number of paper discharges or pages of the job issued by the application. However, the information obtained by the API hook is used when the printer driver 101c does not have a function of notifying the information of the print job.
This function is provided when the printer driver supports the job accounting function.
01e determines whether or not the printer driver 101c has a job accounting function (step S13).
02).

If the printer driver 101c has a job accounting function and can notify the print information to the job accounting client application 101e, the information acquired by hooking is discarded (step S1304) and acquired by the printer driver 101c. The notified information is notified to the job accounting server application 100 (step S1305). On the other hand, if the printer driver 101c does not support the job accounting function, the printer driver 101c transmits the information obtained by hooking the API to the job accounting server application 100.

The GDI 101b transmits print data generated based on a print request from an application to the spooler 1.
01d and accumulated. The spooler 101d transmits print data to the printer 103 while monitoring the status of the printer 103.

In the client computer 102, when the application 102a calls an API to the GDI 102b and issues a print job, the API called by the application
2c converts the print data into print data, and transfers the print data to the system spooler 102d for storage. The system spooler 102d monitors the status of the printer 103,
If the printer 103 is in the ready state, the print data is transmitted to the printer 103.

The job accounting client application 102e monitors the system spooler 102d based on the API notification from the printer driver 102c, manages print data and job accounting information in association with each other, and outputs the number of sheets of the print job. Alternatively, information such as the number of pages is acquired. The method of acquiring information will be described later. The job accounting client application 102e, like the job accounting client application 101e,
Information obtained by hooking I or printer driver 10
Notifying the job accounting server application 100 of the job accounting information acquired from 2c, as described above, in the present embodiment, the job accounting server application 100 exists on the computer connected to the network, and is acquired by the job accounting client application 102. Job accounting information is stored and managed by the job accounting server application 100. However, functions such as counting and managing print job information are performed when print data is transmitted to the printer 104 with a job accounting function. This is realized by the printer 104 itself having a job accounting function. For the user authentication, the authentication work itself is performed by the printer 104, and the user interface (UI) at that time is realized by the printer driver of the printer 104 with the job accounting function.

That is, when the user performs printing using the printer 104, as in the case of using a conventional printer, when the application passes data to the GDI,
The printer driver of the printer 104 generates print data based on the data. The print data is transmitted to the printer 104 after being temporarily stored in the system spooler. The printer 104 performs printing based on the received data, and generates job accounting information for each user in accordance with the number of pages, the paper size, and the type of printing such as duplex printing or color printing.
to manage.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, a printer 104 with a job accounting function and a conventional printer 103 without a job accounting function coexist. In such a system, even when printing is performed from a client computer using the printer 104 having a job accounting function, the job accounting client application 102e hooks an API call from the application or transfers data from the printer driver. By being provided, job accounting information such as the number of discharged sheets or the number of pages of the print job is acquired and sent to the job accounting server application, so that the job accounting information is centrally managed by the job accounting server application. It is possible. In this case, the management of the job accounting information in the printer 104 may be executed. That is, a plurality of job accounting systems may exist on the network.

<Computer Configuration> Here, the hardware configurations of the client computers 101 and 101 and the server computer 1001 in FIG. 1 will be briefly described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, the computer 3000 includes:
CPU 1 that executes document processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets, etc.) are mixed based on a document processing program or the like stored in a program ROM of ROM 3
And each device connected to the system bus 4 is
U1 has overall control. The CPU 1 also executes programs such as an OS including an application and GDI, a printer driver program including a procedure of a flowchart described later, a system spooler, and a job accounting client application to realize the above-described functions.

The RAM 2 functions as a main memory of the CPU 1, a work area, and the like. Keyboard controller (K
The BC 5 controls key input from a keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown). A CRT controller (CRTC) 6 controls display on a CRT display 10. The disk controller (DKC) 7 accesses the external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD) storing a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, and editing files, and a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD). Control.
The LAN interface (LAN I / F) 8 is connected to a local area network and executes communication control processing with devices on the network such as the printer 103, the printer 104, and other computers. Note that the CPU 1
Executes, for example, a process of developing (rasterizing) an outline font on the display information RAM set on the RAM 2 to enable WYSIWYG (a function of matching display contents and print contents) on the CRT 10. Also,
The CPU 1 opens various registered windows based on commands designated by a mouse cursor or the like (not shown) on the CRT 10 and executes various data processing.

In FIG. 1, since the printers are all network printers, the computer is connected to the printer via the LAN interface 8. However, the computer has an interface such as a parallel interface or a USB so that it can be locally connected to the printer. The present invention can be applied to even a simple configuration.

<Flow of Job Accounting Process> FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a flow of print data transmission from the host computer to the printer 104 with a job accounting function in FIG. In FIG.
The computer 200 corresponds to the computer 101 or 102 in FIG. 1, and may be connected to the printer 104 via a network or directly. Here, it is assumed that the job accounting server application 100 does not exist. The printer driver supports a job accounting function. In this case, Microsoft OS Windows is used as the OS, so
Although a graphic device interface (GDI) is used as a graphic engine, if another OS is used, a graphic engine prepared for the OS may be used.

The application 201, graphic engine (GDI) 202, printer driver 203, and system spooler 204 exist as files stored in the external memory 11 or the like on the host computer. This is a program module that is loaded into the internal memory 2 in the host computer and executed by a module to be used.

Graphic engine (GDI) 202
Is a printer driver 203 prepared for each printing device.
Is loaded into the internal memory of the computer, and the output of the application 201 is set in the printer driver 203. The print data received from the application 201 is converted into a format readable by the printer driver, and output to the printer driver 203.

The printer driver 203 issues an authentication request to the job accounting client application 205 at the start of printing. The job accounting client application 205 inquires the printer 104 with the job accounting function for authentication, obtains the result, and notifies the printer driver 203 of the result. If the authentication is successful, a control command recognizable by the printer based on the drawing data received from the graphic engine (GDI) 202, for example, P
Convert to DL (Page Description Language). The converted printer control command is output as print data via the system spooler 204 by the OS. When print data is sent to the printer 104 with the job accounting function, authentication information described later is added to the print data and sent. As described later, the authentication request destination may be a job accounting server application.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the printer driver 20.
3 is a diagram showing an example of information passed from No. 3 to a job accounting client application 205. FIG. The information in FIG. 4 is passed at the start of printing for an authentication request. 5 is passed as job accounting information at the end of printing. With the notification as a trigger, the job accounting client application 102e periodically monitors the system spooler 102d as described above, and manages print data and job accounting information in association with each other.

In FIG. 4, job information 401 includes information for identifying whether the job is sent to a printer with a job accounting function or a printer without a job accounting function, and a user information to be described later. Authentication information such as an ID and a password is included. This is the same in FIG.

The job identifier 402 includes an identifier for the job accounting client application 205 to associate with the print job input to the spooler.

In FIG. 5, the API return value 403
Is a job accounting client application 2 using an API from the printer driver at the start of printing.
When the information of FIG. 4 is notified to the client application 205, the job accounting client application 205
Contains the arguments passed from.

The total number of sheets 404 includes the total number of sheets to be discharged. Based on this information, job accounting representing billing and the like can be realized.

The blocking information 405 includes any one of the items of the detailed information 406 such as designation of a paper size and a paper type or N-up printing (a function of printing N pages in one sheet) in one print job. In the case where these items change, the items include information indicating a block divided for each sheet of common paper. If the above items do not change in one job, one job becomes one block.

The detailed information 406 includes, for each block, detailed information such as sheet type, sheet size, color information, the number of pages per sheet, the number of copies, and the total number of sheets of the block for each side of one side. .

With this information, a more detailed job accounting function can be provided.

As described above, the job accounting information shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is passed from the printer driver to the job accounting client application 205, but is not used in the printer 104 having the job accounting function.

<User Interface of Job Accounting> The flow of processing in the job accounting system in the printer driver 203 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the printer driver 2
Reference numeral 03 denotes a printer 104 having a job accounting function and corresponding to the job accounting function. However, the printer itself may be the conventional printer 103 as long as the printer driver supports the job accounting function.

FIG. 6 shows a screen of a graphic user interface (GUI) for setting the functions of the printer driver 203 in the job accounting system. This is simply called printer setting.

When the check box 601 in the figure is ON, the printer driver 203 operates as a part of the job accounting system. On the other hand, if the check box 601 is OFF, the printer driver 203 transmits only the print data regardless of the job accounting system.

The icon 602 on the left is displayed in conjunction with the check box 601. This icon is displayed on all sheets (various screens displayed as GUIs) owned by the printer driver, and is designed so that the user can know at a glance the setting status of job accounting.

A check box 603 is displayed when a user who has administrator authority who is permitted to set the environment of a computer or the like performs printer setting in an OS that allows different login users to have different authority. By checking ON / OFF of this check box, it is determined whether or not password information required for job accounting for a user using this printer driver can be held.

More specifically, the dialog displayed when the authentication information input button 604 is pressed differs depending on whether the check box 603 is checked ON or OFF. If the check is ON, the dialog of FIG. 7 is displayed. In this case, the user can input an ID 701 for specifying a department or a user as the authentication information and a password 702 for the ID 701.

On the other hand, when the check box 603 is OFF, a dialog shown in FIG. 8 is displayed. That is,
The user can input only the ID 701 specifying the department or the user as the authentication information.

As described above, in an OS in which different authority can be set for each user, a variation in security management by an administrator can be provided.

The button 703 on the authentication information input screen shown in FIG.
A button 2 is used to inquire whether the information is correct as job accounting information. When the ID 701 and the password 702 have been input, they can be pressed. When the button 703 is pressed, the printer driver 2
03 requests the job accounting client application 205 to verify the authentication information. The job accounting client application 205
Job accounting server application 100
Alternatively, a printer 10 with a job accounting function
4 and sends authentication information to request authentication.

(Case 1) When the job accounting server application 100 exists in the system, authentication information is sent to the job accounting server application 100 to request authentication.

(Case 2) When the printer driver 203 is a printer driver for the printer 104 with the job accounting function, the authentication information is transmitted to the printer 104 to request authentication.

(Case 3) When the printer driver 203 is a printer driver for the printer 104 with a job accounting function and the job accounting server application 100 exists in the system, that is, the job accounting system is If there is one, the authentication information is sent to the printer 104 to request authentication, and the authentication information is transmitted to the job accounting server application 10.
0 to request authentication.

Here, it is also possible to store (cache) the authentication information input in accordance with the settings described later and transmit the stored authentication information to make an authentication request. As described above, by caching the authentication information, it is possible to reduce the inquiry time of the authentication information.

If it is determined by the inquiry that the authentication information is correct, a message shown in FIG. 9 is displayed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the message is incorrect, a message shown in FIG. 10 is displayed.

A check box 704 is a button for enabling the user to select whether or not to confirm the authentication information at the time of printing. When the check box 704 is ON, a print command is issued from the application, printing is started by the printer driver 203, and a dialog 1101 shown in FIG. 11 is displayed immediately before print data is transmitted.
On the other hand, when the check box 704 is OFF, the dialog 1101 is not displayed, and printing is performed using the stored authentication information.

However, even when the check box 704 is OFF, if the authentication information is not stored, the password 702 is displayed in a blank state as shown in FIG. 12, for example, to request the input of the authentication information. For example, the dialog 1101 is displayed.

As described above, the authentication information input by designating the check box 603 can be held, so that the trouble of inputting can be saved and the authentication time can be shortened.

By pressing the button 703, it is possible to confirm in advance whether the authentication information to be stored is correct, and it is possible to provide a method for saving the correct authentication information to the user.

As a supplementary explanation, if the check box 603 is set so as not to hold the password information required for job accounting, the password 702 is not held and the check box 704 is displayed. No, Dialog 1
101 will always be displayed.

Note that the authentication information that can be specified whether to save or not is limited to a password in this embodiment.
Shall be stored unconditionally. However, it may be possible to specify whether to store both the password and the ID.

If the check box 704 in FIG. 7 is turned on, the dialog 1101 is displayed for each print job, so that the user can edit the authentication information and can perform printing using a different ID for each print. For example, multiple I
In a case where the printer driver 203 is used in an environment where printing is performed using D, the authentication information is confirmed at the start of the processing of the print job and is input again, so that the authentication can be surely performed for each ID. It becomes possible. On the other hand, when the printer driver 203 is used in an environment in which only a single piece of authentication information is used, the number of operation steps can be reduced by omitting the confirmation of the authentication information at the start of printing.

As described above, by providing the check box 704, it is possible to set whether to confirm the authentication information at the time of printing, and it is possible to reduce operation steps in job accounting. Further, the authentication information can be easily changed for each print job, and the convenience is improved.

When the dialog 1101 is displayed at the time of starting printing, pressing the OK button 1102 causes authentication information to be sent immediately before sending print data. As a result, if the authentication information is correct, it is determined that printing is possible, and print data is transmitted. If the authentication information is not correct, the message in FIG. 10 is displayed, and when the OK button 1001 is pressed, a dialog 1101 is displayed. The user inputs the authentication information again and sends out the authentication information by pressing an OK button 1102.

On the other hand, when sending the stored authentication information, the dialog 1101 is not displayed. If the authentication information is not correct, the message shown in FIG.
When the button 1001 is pressed, a dialog 1101 is displayed. The user inputs the authentication information again and sends out the authentication information by pressing the OK button 1102 again.
By pressing a cancel button 1103, printing can be stopped. In this case, the printer driver application is notified of the printing failure from the printer driver 203, and does not transmit the print data thereafter.

<Processing Procedure of Printer Setting> FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for displaying the UI screen of FIG. 6 and performing setting. This screen is displayed by performing a predetermined printer setting operation, and is executed here by the printer driver.

First, in step S1701, the UI screen of FIG. 6 is displayed on a display monitor, for example, the CRT 10 of FIG. Next, in step S1702, it is determined whether the user performing the operation is an administrator user who is permitted to set the print environment. If the user is not permitted to set the environment, in step S1703, the user clears or grays out the check box 603 (setting for saving the authentication information) in FIG. I do. Of course, conversely, if the user is an administrator, the check box 603 is used.
May be displayed.

When the UI screen is displayed as described above,
In step S1704, the process waits for an input by the user. If the input is "OK", the print settings input in step S1706 are saved, and the process ends. Here, the setting for storing the authentication information is set, and if the authentication information is input, the information is also stored. If the input is a cancel button, the input print settings are discarded, and the process ends.

If the pressed button is the "verify" button 703 on the screen shown in FIG. 7 which is opened when the setting button 604 on the printer setting screen is pressed, similarly to step S1408 in FIG. Then, the input authentication information is passed to the job accounting client application to request authentication. If the authentication result is returned from the job accounting client application, the result is determined. As described above, the screen of FIG. 9 is displayed if the authentication is successful, and the screen of FIG. 10 is displayed if the authentication is unsuccessful. Notify if it has been done.

If the input is another input, the display screen is updated according to the input, and the input is waited for in step S1704.

In this way, only the administrator can change the setting for storing the authentication information, and can confirm the authentication information before printing.

<Job Accounting Processing Procedure by Printer Driver> FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the flow of the job accounting processing by the printer driver described above.

In step S1401, a print command is received from an application.

In step S1402, it is determined whether or not job accounting (check button 601 in FIG. 7) is ON.
If it is FF, the process proceeds to step S1411.

In step S1403, it is determined by the check button 704 whether or not to display the authentication information confirmation dialog of FIG. 11 at the time of printing. If so, the process proceeds to step S1405.

In step S1404, it is determined whether or not the authentication information is stored.
Then, the process advances to step S1405 if the information is not held. In the determination in step S1404, for example, the check button 603 in FIG. 5 is checked, and if it is on, it is determined that the authentication information is held. Further, the storage area of the authentication information may be further examined, and if data other than specific data such as null data is stored, it may be determined that the authentication information is held.

In step S1405, the authentication information is set to be checked before printing is started, or the authentication information is not stored. Therefore, an authentication information confirmation dialog 1101 is displayed, and input from the user is waited.

In step S1406, if the event input by the user is a print execution request (OK button 1102 is pressed), the flow advances to step S1407; otherwise, the flow advances to step S1410.

In step S1407, printing is started using the held authentication information. At this time, if the authentication information is set to be stored, the information is stored in a predetermined area of the nonvolatile medium.

In step S1408, an authentication process is performed. Specifically, the information shown in FIG. 4 is notified to the job accounting client application 205. The job accounting client application 205 transmits the acquired information to the job accounting server application 100 or the printer 104 with a job accounting function, and obtains an authentication result.

The printer driver receives the authentication result from the job accounting client application. If the authentication is successful, the process proceeds to step S1411. If the authentication fails, the process proceeds to step S1409.

In step S1409, an authentication failure message is displayed, and the user waits for an input.
Pressing 001 returns to step S1405.

In step S1410, the event input by the user is a print stop request (cancel button 1103).
Pressed), and if so, step S1
Proceed to 412, otherwise wait for the next event.

In step S1411, transmission of data to the system spooler is started. When the transmission is completed, it is determined in step S1414 whether the job accounting is on, and the job accounting is on.
In step S1415, the job accounting client application 205 is notified of the information shown in FIG. The job accounting server application 100 receives this information from the job accounting client application 205, and performs job accounting based on this information. If the job accounting server application does not exist in the network system, this information need not be transmitted.

On the other hand, the printer 104 with the job accounting function counts inside the printer in the printing process.

In step S1412, the application is notified of the stop of printing.

If it is determined in step S1404 that the authentication information is held, step S1413
Authentication information stored in the RAM from the storage area
The information is read into the above authentication information area, and the flow advances to step S1408 to perform authentication processing using the authentication information.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the printing process in step S1411 in more detail.

In step S1501, graphic data (data such as an image or a document to be printed) passed from the graphic engine is fetched.
At 502, it is determined whether a new block needs to be provided. Here, the case where the generation of print data is newly started, the case where the single-sided printing is included in the detailed information 406 included in the detailed information 406 in FIG.
A new block is generated when any one of the conditions of paper type, paper size, color information, number of pages per sheet, and number of copies is changed.

In step S1503, a new block is generated. When the newly generated block is the head of a new print job, an area from the printer name to the block information 405 in FIG. 5 is first secured in the memory, and the information determined at that time is stored in the corresponding area. Write to.

In step S1504, an area for the detailed information of the new block is secured in the format shown in FIG. 5, and it is determined whether the sheet is double-sided, single-sided, paper type, paper size, color information, the number of pages per page, For example, write the information defined at that time.

In step S1505, for example, a PDL command to be transmitted to the printer is generated from the graphic data. It is determined whether the command generated in step S1506 is a discharge command.
In step S1507, the number of sheets in the detailed information of the corresponding block is counted.

In step S1508, it is determined whether the print job has been completed. If the print job has been completed, the print data is transmitted to the printer by the OS, and the process ends.

As described above, the printer driver
Generates detailed job accounting information while generating print data.

<Authentication Processing by Printer with Job Accounting Function> FIG. 16 shows an authentication processing procedure by a printer with a job accounting function. The authentication processing by the job accounting server application has the same procedure.

The printer driver sends the job accounting client application a step S140.
When the authentication information is sent in step 8, the authentication information is sent from the job accounting client application to the printer with the job accounting function. FIG. 15 is started from that point. In step S1601, the received authentication information is checked against a database of correct authentication information stored in advance. The result is determined in step S1602, and if the collation is successful, step S160
In step 3, a response is sent to the job accounting client application indicating that the authentication has succeeded.
At 604, the authentication failure is returned to the job accounting client application. Thus, the following characteristic functions are realized in the job accounting system of the present embodiment.

(1) Since user authentication can be performed prior to printing, it is possible to prevent a situation where authentication information is found to be incorrect when authentication is performed during printing.

(2) The administrator user can set whether to save the authentication information. For this,
The administrator can change this setting according to the status of use of the printer and the status of the entire network system to which the printer is connected. For example, for a color printer with a relatively high printing unit price, authentication information must be entered each time it is used to make management stricter, and for a monochrome printer that is relatively inexpensive and frequently used, the authentication information is saved and operated. Can be facilitated. In addition, for a printer shared by a plurality of departments having different account management units, it is possible to input authentication information every time printing is performed in order to accurately grasp account information for each department.

(3) When the storage of the authentication information is set, by using the stored authentication information, the trouble of inputting the authentication information by the user can be omitted, and the time required for printing can be reduced.

(4) Since it is possible to select a setting for inputting authentication information for each print job, a terminal used by a plurality of users is required to input authentication information for each print job regardless of whether or not authentication information is stored. For terminals occupied by a single user, if authentication information storage is set,
Printing can be performed using the stored authentication information. Therefore, efficient processing can be performed for a terminal of a single user, and accurate account management can be performed for a terminal shared by a plurality of users.

(5) The printer driver can generate job accounting information according to not only the number of sheets, but also whether the sheet is double-sided or single-sided, paper type, paper size, color information, and the number of pages per sheet. Accurate account management is possible.

[Second Embodiment] In addition to the printing system including the printer and the host computer shown in FIG.
The print data from the application may be temporarily spooled as intermediate code data.

FIG. 18 is an extension of the system of FIG. 2, and has a configuration in which when a print command is sent from the graphic engine 202 to the printer driver 203, a spool file 303 composed of an intermediate code is once generated. In the system shown in FIG. 2, the application 201 is released from the printing process when the printer driver 203 has converted all print commands from the graphic engine 202 into printer control commands. On the other hand, in the system shown in FIG. 18, the application 201 is released from the printing process because the spooler (hereinafter referred to as a spooler) 302 in the printer driver converts all print commands into intermediate code data, It is at the time of output. Usually, the latter requires less time. Further, in the system shown in FIG. 18, the contents of the spool file 303 can be processed. This allows the print data from the application to be scaled up or down, multiple pages reduced to one page, and printed.
Various page handling functions can be realized. As will be described later, it is also possible to combine jobs, edit pages such as pages, and preview data. Further, by analyzing the data and performing color / monochrome determination, it is possible to realize resource-saving printing in consideration of the functions of the printer and to improve performance.

For these purposes, the system of FIG. 2 has been extended so that spooling is performed with intermediate code data as shown in FIG. In order to process the print data, the printer driver 20 is usually used.
3 is set from the window provided.

The basic processing of the extension method in FIG. 18 will be described below. First, the dispatcher 301 receives a print command from the graphic engine 202. If the print command received by the dispatcher 301 from the graphic engine 202 is a print command issued from the application 201 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 loads the spooler 302 stored in the external memory 11 and
The print command is sent to the spooler 302 instead of the print command 03.

The spooler 302 converts the received print command into an intermediate code and outputs it to the spool file 303. In addition, the spooler 302 includes a printer driver 203.
The processing settings relating to the print data set for the printer driver 203 are acquired from the printer driver 203 and stored in the spool file 303.

Although the spool file 303 is generated as a file on the external memory, it may be generated on the internal memory. Further, the spooler 302 loads the spool file manager 304 stored in the external memory, and notifies the spool file manager 304 of the generation status of the spool file 303. After that, the spool file manager 304 determines whether or not printing can be performed according to the contents of the processing settings related to the print data stored in the spool file 303.

When the spool file manager 304 determines that printing can be performed using the graphic engine 202, the spooler 3 stores the despooler 3 stored in the external memory.
05, and instructs the despooler 305 to print the intermediate code described in the spool file 303.

The despooler 305 stores the spool file 30
3 is processed in accordance with the contents of the processing settings included in the spool file 303, and output again via the graphic engine 202.

The print command received by the dispatcher 301 from the graphic engine 202 is transmitted to the despooler 305.
, The dispatcher 301 sends the print command not to the spooler 302 but to the printer driver 203.

The printer driver 203 generates a printer control command and sends it to the system spooler 204.

<Spool Processing of Print Job> Further, FIG.
FIG. 8 shows an example in which a previewer 306 and a setting change editor 307 are provided in addition to the extended system described above to enable preview, change print settings, and combine a plurality of jobs.

In order to perform print preview, change print settings, and combine a plurality of jobs, as shown in 1901 in FIG. 19, in the pull-down menu which is a means for "designating the output destination" in the properties of the printer driver, Specify “Edit and Preview”.

As described above, the contents set in the properties of the printer driver are stored as a setting file in a structure provided by the OS (called DEVMODE in the Windows (registered trademark) OS). The structure includes, for example, a setting as to whether or not to store data in the spool file manager 304 during processing settings included in the spool file 303. When the spool file manager 304 reads the processing settings via the printer driver and the store designation is made, the page drawing file and the job setting file are generated and stored in the spool file 303 as described above.
A window screen of the spool file manager pops up as shown in FIG. FIG. 20 shows an example in which four jobs are spooled, and a job can be operated by pressing a menu bar or a menu icon immediately below the menu bar.

The number of operations on the menu bar and menu icons is the same. Operation types include `` Print '' (Print) with the job selected, `` Save and print '' (Proof Print) that prints while leaving the spool file of the intermediate code as it is, and “Preview” to see the output preview
w), "Delete" to delete the intermediate code spool file
(Delete), "Duplicate" to create a copy of the spool file of the intermediate code, "Combine" to combine the jobs of multiple spool files of the intermediate code into one job, "Separate" to divide into multiple jobs, and "Job Edit" to change the print settings (layout settings, finishing settings, etc.) of a single job or a combined job
gs), "Move to-Top" to make the print order of a certain job first, "Move to-Previous" to make the print order of a certain job one position faster Move down one print order (Move to-N
ext) and “Move to-Last” for ending the printing order of a certain job.

When a preview of a certain single job or a combined job is designated on the window screen (FIG. 20) of the spool file manager, the previewer 306
And instructs the previewer 306 to perform preview processing of the job of the intermediate code described in the spool file 303.

The previewer 306 stores the spool file 3
Page drawing file (PD
F) are sequentially read, processed in accordance with the contents of the processing setting information included in the job setting file (SDF) stored in the spool file 303, and a GDI function is output to the graphic engine 202. By outputting drawing data to the client area, output on the screen becomes possible.

The graphic engine 202 can perform appropriate rendering according to the designated output destination. Accordingly, the previewer 306 processes the intermediate code included in the spool file 303 in accordance with the processing settings included in the spool file 303, similarly to the despooler 305, and
It can be realized by a method of outputting using. In this way, the processing settings set by the printer driver are stored in the spool file 303 as a job setting file, and the data of the page drawing file is processed and output based on the job setting file. How to print, N-up (processing to reduce and arrange N logical pages to one physical page and print), double-sided printing, bookbinding printing If a stamp is specified, a print preview similar to that output by the printer can be provided to the user. Note that the preview function of the conventional application software for creating a document, for example, draws based on the page settings in the application, so the print settings in the printer driver are not reflected, and the printout is actually performed. Could not be recognized by the user.

By performing the preview processing as described above, a large preview of the print processing settings included in the spool file 303 is displayed in the previewer 306 as shown in FIG.
Then, the previewer 306 is closed by a user's non-display instruction, and control is performed on the window screen of the spool file manager (FIG. 2).
Go to 0).

Then, if the user performs printing in accordance with the contents displayed by the previewer 306, “Print” (Print) is performed on the spool file manager 304.
Alternatively, a print request is issued by instructing “save and print” (Proof Print). As described above, the print request is processed by the despooler 305 to generate a GDI function by processing the page drawing file based on the job setting file, transmitted to the graphic engine 202, and transmitted to the printer driver 203 via the dispatcher 301. And printing is executed.

As described above, when the spool is designated in the setting of "Edit and Preview", the generated print data is stored in the spooler for each job. When a plurality of spooled print jobs are selected and “combination” is designated for the selected jobs, the spooler combines the selected print jobs into one job.

<Job Accounting Processing of Spooled Print Job> In the case where job accounting is performed in such a spool system, processing after print data is spooled will be described with reference to FIG.

In step S2201, the spool file manager 304 receives an event input.

If it is determined in step S2202 that the event is a print command, the flow advances to step S2203; otherwise, the flow advances to step S2204.

In step S2203, the spool file manager 304 activates the despooler 305, and
Issue a print command. In this case, the despooler 305 is shown in FIG.
1 performs the same operation as the application. Therefore, the inquiry about the authentication information at the time of printing is performed when a print request is made to the printer driver 203 via the dispatcher 301 again. Thereafter, step S in FIG.
It is the same as that after 1402.

In step S2204, if the event is a job combination request, the flow advances to step S2205; otherwise, the flow advances to step S2206.

In step S2205, the selected plurality of jobs are handled as combined jobs. Specifically, the spool file 303 of the plurality of jobs is requested to be printed at once by a single despooler 305 (step S220).
3) is performed.

Since the print data from the application is passed to the spooler 204 by the dispatcher 301, no data is sent to the printer driver 203 at this time.

That is, even when a plurality of jobs are combined and printed as shown in FIG. 20, an authentication request is not made for each job before combination, and the jobs are combined into one job. The authentication process is performed later.

Further, in the same manner as the operation described in the first embodiment, the processing method of the spool system when the cancel button 1103 is pressed on the authentication information input screen shown in FIG. 11 will be described with reference to FIG. I do. Note that this processing procedure is almost the same as FIG.
FIG. 23 shows only a portion different from FIG.

Specifically, step S1412 in FIG.
Subsequent processing is different. First, in step S1410, the print stop command in step S2301 is notified not to the application but to the despooler 305.

In step S1802, the despooler 305 notifies the spool file manager 30 of the stop of printing.
4 is unloaded from the internal memory.

At step S1803, the spool file manager 304 deletes the spool file 303 generated by the spooler 302 and unloads it from the internal memory. As a result, even when the spool system is extended in the job accounting system, job accounting is performed without holding the spool file in the external memory.

According to the above procedure, the following characteristic functions are realized in the job accounting system of the present embodiment. (6) For a print job in which a plurality of print jobs are combined into one by a combining operation, one authentication process is performed on the entire combined job as a single print job. Thus, simplification of the operation by the user and speeding up of printing can be realized.

Even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a league, a printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (copier, printer, facsimile) Device).

Further, the object of the present invention is to realize the functions of the above-described embodiment, and
The present invention can also be achieved by a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or an apparatus reading and executing a program code stored in a storage medium storing a software program code for implementing the procedure of 23.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, C
DR, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM
Etc. can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) Performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
The case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

[0150]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By providing a method of storing a plurality of authentication information in an OS capable of defining a plurality of authority levels, a flexible operation method can be provided to a user having a high degree of freedom.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a job accounting system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a typical print system of a host computer to which a printer is connected.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of information passed from a printer driver to a job accounting client application.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of information passed from a printer driver to a job accounting client application.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI screen for print setting by a printer driver.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a dialog displayed when a button 604 is pressed when a check box 603 is checked.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a dialog displayed when a button 604 is pressed when a check box 603 is OFF.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message box displayed when it is determined that authentication information is correct.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message box displayed when it is determined that the authentication information is invalid.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of an authentication information confirmation dialog.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of an authentication information confirmation dialog.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a job accounting client application.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a print processing procedure performed by a client terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a print processing procedure performed by a client terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of an authentication processing procedure by a server or a printer with a job accounting function according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a print setting procedure performed by a printer driver.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system that spools an intermediate code of a print command from an application.

FIG. 19 illustrates a printer driver G for performing spooling.
FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a UI.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of a GUI displayed when a print setting is changed and a preview is performed.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a preview screen.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 100 Job accounting server application 101 Client computer 1 101a Application 101b GDI 101c Printer driver 101d System spooler 101e Job accounting client application 102 Client computer 2 102a Application 102b GDI 102c Printer driver 102d Spooler 102e Job accounting client application 103 Conventional printer 104 With job accounting function Printer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kazunori Masaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Shinichi Yamamura 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon (72) Inventor Hiroshi Koga 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 2C061 AP01 AR01 AR03 BB17 CL10 HH01 HK15 HL01 HQ17 5B021 AA01 BB01 BB04 BB10 CC06 EE04

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A printing control apparatus for performing a user authentication process during a printing process, comprising: a designation unit for designating whether or not authentication information is to be stored; Holding means for holding the authentication information; transmitting the authentication information held by the holding means to the authentication server; and requesting authentication for the authentication; and outputting the print data to the printing apparatus when the authentication is successful. A print control device comprising: an output unit. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user is provided with an authority level corresponding to the identifier, and further includes an activation unit that activates the designation unit when the user has a predetermined authority level. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The image processing apparatus further includes a counting unit that counts information on a print amount including a number of prints to be printed based on the print data output by the output unit, and transmits the information on the counted print amount to a counting server. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the authentication server and the print control apparatus are connected via a communication network, and a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to the communication network. . 5. A print control method for performing a user authentication process during a print process, comprising: a designation step of designating whether or not authentication information is to be retained; A holding step of holding the authentication information, transmitting the authentication information held by the holding step to the authentication server, and an authentication requesting step for requesting authentication; and outputting the print data to the printing apparatus when the authentication is successful. And a printing control method. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user is provided with an authority level corresponding to the identifier, and further includes an activation step of validating the designation step when the user has a predetermined authority level. The print control method according to claim 5, wherein: 7. A counting step of counting print amount information including the number of prints to be printed based on the print data output in the output step, and transmitting the counted print amount information to a counting server. 6. The print control method according to claim 5, wherein: 8. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for executing the print control method according to claim 5 on a computer. 9. A printing system, comprising: the printing control device according to claim 1; the authentication server; and the printing device.