JP4035736B2 - Medium recording status information acquisition control program, status information acquisition control device, and status information acquisition control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a medium on which a status information acquisition control program is recorded, a status information acquisition control apparatus, and a status information acquisition control method, and more particularly, a medium on which a status information acquisition control program for speeding up acquisition of printer status information is recorded, and a status The present invention relates to an information acquisition control method and a status information acquisition control method.

Conventionally, this type of status information acquisition control apparatus is configured by a printer driver that is incorporated in a computer and sends print data that can be recognized by the printer to a printer connected to the computer. This print data is obtained by inputting print data according to a print request from an application or an operating system, and is converted. By performing this conversion, printing from the application or the operating system can be realized. The printer driver is activated by the application or operating system when the application or operating system makes a print request. Then, the above-described print data is input. In addition, the activated printer driver realizes bidirectional communication while performing a predetermined handshake with the printer, transmits the printer setting data set on the computer side, and status information and control information on the printer side. Is receiving.

The printer status information and control information received by the printer driver are received based on a status information and control information read request accompanying a print data print request from an application or operating system. Therefore, when the printer driver receives a request for reading printer status information or control information from the application or operating system, the printer driver starts communication with the printer and requests the printer to transmit status information and control information. In response to this request, the printer searches the printer status and generates status information and control information. The generated status information and control information are sent to the printer driver. The printer driver acquires the sent status information and control information, configures predetermined printer information from the status information and control information, enables the application or operating system to recognize the printer status, and displays a predetermined screen. it's shown.

In the status information acquisition control apparatus configured by the conventional printer driver described above, each time the printer driver is activated in response to a print request from an application or operating system, the printer driver communicates with the printer, Obtained status information and control information. This communication and the time for generating status information and control information on the printer side may be long, and this time is wasted for the user who wants to print immediately.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a status information acquisition control program capable of controlling the reading of status information from the printer side and speeding up the acquisition and display of the status information and control information. An object is to provide a recorded medium, a status information acquisition control device, and a status information acquisition control method.

To achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a medium recording a status information acquisition control program for controlling acquisition of status information from a connected printer, and acquires predetermined status information of the connected printer. An acquisition function that stores the status information acquired by the acquisition function in a predetermined storage area, and reads and acquires the stored status information from the storage area, and accepts a status information acquisition request In addition, based on the detection function for detecting the status of the acquisition request, and the status detected by the detection function, the printer is connected with the acquisition function to acquire predetermined status information, or the storage acquisition function An acquisition control function for controlling whether status information already stored in the storage area is acquired. Certain to realize the computer as a configuration for realizing the computer.

In the invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, status information acquisition that realizes high-speed acquisition of status information of a printer to be connected by an information acquisition function, an information storage function, and an information control function in a computer. A medium recording a control program is provided. Here, the acquisition function communicates with the connected printer and acquires predetermined status information from the printer. The storage acquisition function stores the predetermined status information acquired by the acquisition function in a predetermined storage area. The acquisition storage function can read and acquire status information stored in a predetermined storage area. Here, when the acquisition request for status information is accepted, the detection function detects a situation in which the acquisition request has occurred. Such a situation may be the time interval at which the acquisition request is generated, or various situations such as the type of program of the request destination that has output the acquisition request can be considered. Then, the acquisition control function causes the acquisition function to acquire predetermined status information from the printer connected by the acquisition function based on the situation where the acquisition request is detected, or the storage acquisition function has already stored the predetermined storage area in the predetermined storage area. Controls whether stored status information is retrieved. In other words, it becomes possible to selectively switch between a method for acquiring status information directly from the printer in response to a situation where an acquisition request has occurred and a method for acquiring status information already stored in a predetermined storage area. When acquiring from a predetermined storage area, it is possible to speed up the acquisition of status information, and when acquiring from a printer, it is possible to acquire the latest status information.

Whether the acquisition control function acquires status information from the printer using the acquisition function based on the situation where the acquisition request detected by the detection function occurs, or acquires status information already stored in a predetermined storage area To control. Whether it is acquired from a printer or from a predetermined storage area, if the status information to be acquired is selected and limited, the time for acquisition can be shortened, and more status information can be obtained. Can be acquired at high speed. Accordingly, the invention according to claim 2 is the medium on which the status information acquisition control program according to claim 1 is recorded, wherein the acquisition control function is based on the situation detected by the detection function. The status information acquired by the storage acquisition function is limited.

In the invention according to claim 2 configured as described above, the acquisition control function corresponds to the status of the acquisition request for the predetermined status information detected by the detection function, and is acquired when the status information is provided to the request destination. Limit the status information to be performed. Therefore, for limited items, status information cannot be provided, but by reducing the amount of status information to be provided, the processing time performed for acquisition can be shortened, or the acquired status information can be displayed. It is possible to shorten the time, and thus it is possible to speed up the acquisition of status information.

  Here, as an example of a situation at the time of occurrence of an acquisition request detected by the detection function, the detection function detects a time interval of the acquisition request, and the acquisition control function is configured such that the time interval is within a predetermined time. The status information already stored in the storage area may be acquired by the storage acquisition function. In the above configuration, the detection function detects the time interval between acquisition requests. Then, the acquisition control function causes the storage acquisition function to acquire the status information already stored in the predetermined storage area when the time interval of the acquisition request detected by the detection function is within the predetermined time. In other words, if the interval between acquisition requests generated before and after is within a predetermined time, the printer status information is considered to have little change, and the status information acquired from the previous printer already stored in the predetermined storage area is used. To do. As a result, it is possible to increase the speed of obtaining status information in such a case.

  The invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that, when the detection function receives an acquisition request for status information issued by a predetermined program, the detection function detects the type of the program that issued the acquisition request, and The control function acquires predetermined status information from the printer connected by the acquisition function based on the difference in the detected program type, or is already stored in the storage area by the storage acquisition function. It is configured to control whether status information is acquired.

  In the invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, the type of program that generated the acquisition request is detected by the detection function. The acquisition control function acquires predetermined status information from the printer connected in the acquisition function based on the type of the program that has generated the acquisition request detected by the detection function, or stores it in a predetermined storage area in the storage acquisition function. Controls whether status information that has already been stored is acquired. That is, depending on the type of program, there is no need to acquire status information from the printer again. In such a case, if status information already stored in a predetermined storage area is used, the speed of acquisition of status information can be increased. It becomes possible to plan. For example, when printing from an application program on a printer, it is often preferable to simply send print data to the printer, and it is preferable to use status information already stored in a predetermined storage area in such an aspect. It is. On the other hand, when the program type is a basic system program, the printer settings are often changed, and it is preferable to obtain and use the latest status information from the printer.

In this way, the acquisition control function causes the acquisition function to acquire status information from the printer, or the storage acquisition function stores the status stored in a predetermined storage area, corresponding to the acquisition request time interval and the acquisition request destination. Controls whether information is acquired. At this time, when an error or the like occurs during the acquisition of status information from the printer, the above-described control is performed so that the status information already stored in a predetermined storage area is acquired. The status information in which an error has occurred is used.

Accordingly, the invention according to claim 3 is a medium in which the status information acquisition control program according to claim 1 or 2 is recorded, wherein the detection function is a predetermined status already stored in the storage area. When the information is retrieved and the detection function detects that the predetermined status information already stored in the storage area includes predetermined abnormality or illegal information, the acquisition function connects with the acquisition function. The printer is configured to acquire predetermined status information.
In the invention according to claim 3 configured as described above, when an acquisition request is generated, the detection function searches for predetermined status information already stored in the storage area. When the detection function detects that the predetermined status information already stored in the storage area includes predetermined abnormality or illegal information, the acquisition control function determines the predetermined status information of the printer connected by the acquisition function. To get. This makes it possible to update an error that has occurred when acquiring status information from the previous printer.

Here, the medium on which the status information acquisition control program is recorded may be a magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, or any recording medium that will be developed in the future. it can. In addition, the duplication stages such as the primary duplication product and the secondary duplication product are equivalent without any question. In addition, even when the communication method is used as a supply method, the present invention is not changed. Further, even when a part is software and a part is realized by hardware, the idea of the invention is not completely different, and a part is stored on a recording medium and is appropriately changed as necessary. It may be in the form of being read.

  It goes without saying that a medium on which such a status information acquisition control program is recorded is a target of a transaction, and can also be realized as a substantial device having the functions realized by this status information acquisition control program. Absent. Therefore, the invention according to claims 4 to 6 provides a status information acquisition control device when the medium recorded with the above-described status information acquisition control program is applied to the device.

  Of course, when acquiring the status information of the printer connected in this way, the method for executing the predetermined control is not necessarily limited to the actual status information acquisition control device, and functions as a status information acquisition control method. It is easy to understand. For this reason, the invention concerning Claim 7-Claim 9 is made executable as a method which the status information acquisition control device mentioned above realizes. That is, it is not necessarily limited to a substantial status information acquisition control device, and there is no difference in being effective as a status information acquisition control method.

As described above, the present invention provides a medium on which a status information acquisition control program capable of speeding up the acquisition of status information of a connected printer in response to a situation where an acquisition request has occurred is recorded. Can do. Further, it is possible to speed up the acquisition of status information according to the type of program that issued the acquisition request.
Moreover, according to the invention concerning Claim 2, acquisition of status information can be further accelerated.
Furthermore, it is possible to speed up the acquisition of status information for acquisition requests within a predetermined time.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, if there is an abnormality in the status information when the status information is read from the printer in the previous acquisition request, the status is always received from the printer in the next acquisition request. Since the information is acquired, accurate status information can be acquired, and the status information stored in a predetermined storage area can be updated to an accurate one.
Furthermore, according to the inventions according to claims 4 to 6, there is provided a status information acquisition control device capable of speeding up acquisition of status information of a connected printer in accordance with a situation where an acquisition request has occurred. Can be provided.
Further, according to the inventions according to claims 7 to 9, the acquisition of status information that can speed up the display and acquisition of status information from the connected printer in accordance with the situation where the acquisition request has occurred. A control method can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a status information acquisition control program according to an embodiment of the present invention together with a computer system to which this status information acquisition control program is applied. In the figure, the computer system 10 stores each function that the status information acquisition control program P realizes in the computer main body 20 in a storage area inside the computer main body 20. The computer body 20 can read out this program from the storage area as appropriate, control predetermined hardware of the computer, and control the acquisition of status information of the printer 30 to be connected.

The status information acquisition control program P includes an acquisition function F1, a storage acquisition function F2, a detection function F3, and an acquisition control function F4. Here, the acquisition function F1 outputs a request for status information to the printer 30, and the printer 30 sends status information corresponding to this request to the acquisition function F1. The storage / acquisition function F2 stores the input status information in a predetermined storage area M while inputting the status information sent from the printer 30 to the acquisition function F1. The storage / acquisition function F2 can read and acquire the status information stored in the storage area M. Assuming such operation, when an acquisition request for status information of the printer 30 is generated at acquisition request destinations A1 to An composed of application programs or operating system programs operating inside the computer main body 20, the acquisition request is detected by the detection function F3. It is accepted at.

Then, the detection function F3 that has received the acquisition request detects the status of the request destination program type that has output the acquisition request, the interval Δt at which the acquisition request has occurred, and the like. Then, this situation is notified to the acquisition control function F4. Upon receipt of this notification, the acquisition control function F4 acquires status information from the printer 30 connected by the acquisition function F1 to generate the status information S and provides it to the request destinations A1 to An, or stores it by the storage acquisition function F2. Controls whether the status information stored in the area M is acquired and the status information S is generated and provided to the request destinations A1 to An. This control is executed in consideration of the situation where there is an acquisition request as described above. Taking this situation into account, when speeding up is required, status information is obtained from the storage area M and provided. When the latest status information of the printer 30 is required, the status is sent from the printer 30. This corresponds to acquiring and providing information. As an example of a specific situation, the magnitude of the request occurrence time difference Δt of the request destinations A1 to An and the program type of the request destinations A1 to An are considered.

That is, when Δt is small, the status information held by the printer 30 does not change significantly. Therefore, the status information is acquired and provided from the storage area M in order to increase the speed, and the request destinations A1 to An are application programs. Since it is unlikely that the setting of the printer 30 will be changed, the status information already stored in the storage area M is acquired and provided from the viewpoint of speeding up. As another example of speeding up, it is conceivable to limit status information to be read. That is, when the status information held by the printer 30 is from status information 100 to 200, the speed information may be read only for the status information 100 to 110 when speeding up.

Next, an external view of the computer system 10 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, a computer system 10 includes a computer main body 20, a display 21, a keyboard 22, and a mouse 23, and a printer 30. The computer system 10 includes a USB port 24 provided in the computer main body 20, a USB port 34 of the printer 30 Are connected by a USB cable 40. Of course, this connection form is not limited to USB connection, but may be parallel connection.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of the computer main body 20 and the printer 30 constituting the computer system 10. In this figure, the computer main body 20 is provided with a CPU 20b, ROM 20c, RAM 20d, USB I / O 20e, etc. together with an auxiliary storage device 20a. The CPU 20a executes a control program written in the ROM 20c, and uses the RAM 20d as a work area. The printer 30 can be connected via the USB I / O 20e.

The computer main body 20 includes a CD-ROM drive 20a1, a floppy disk drive 20a2, a hard disk drive 20a3, and the like as auxiliary storage devices 20a. An information recording medium such as the CD-ROM 20a11 and the floppy disk 20a21 is inserted into the CD-ROM drive 20a1 and the floppy disk drive 20a2, and programs and data stored in the information recording medium are installed in the hard disk drive 20a3. Will be.

Here, the following programs to be installed are recorded in the hard disk drive 11a3 as described above, and are usually read from the hard disk drive 20a3 into a predetermined area of the RAM 20d and executed. A LAN adapter 20f is also provided and can be used as one means for acquiring a program or the like via an external network. In this sense, a communication line such as a network is also used as a medium for acquiring the program and can be said to be a medium in which the program is recorded in a broad sense.

In addition to the CPU 30a, the printer 30 includes a ROM 30b and a RAM 30c. The CPU 30a controls the printer controller 30d based on the print data stored in the RAM 30c based on a control program recorded in the ROM 30b. The printer controller 30d controls transmission of print data to a mechanical portion of the printer (not shown) and the print head.

Based on an instruction from the CPU 30a, the printer controller 30d can acquire status information indicating the state of the mechanical portion and the remaining amount of ink used for printing, and store the status information in the RAM 30c. The CPU 30a can read out the status information stored in the RAM 30c and send it to the computer 20 via the USB I / O 30e.

On the other hand, when printing processing is executed using such a computer system 10, a predetermined program is executed in the computer main body 20. The predetermined program is stored in the hard disk drive 20a3, and the configuration of the program stored in the hard disk 20a3 is shown in FIG. In the figure, among the predetermined programs, the operating system 20a31 (OS) is operating as a basic program, and the operating system 20a31 has a display driver 20a32 (DSP DRV) for displaying on the display 21. A printer driver 20a33 (PRT DRV) that causes the printer 30 to perform print output is incorporated.

An application 20a34 is executed on the operating system 20a31 as the basic program. The processing content of the application 20a34 varies, and the operation of the keyboard 13 and mouse 14 as operation devices is monitored. When operated, various external devices are appropriately controlled to perform corresponding arithmetic processing, Furthermore, the processing result is displayed on the display 21 via the display driver 20a32, and the print data is output to the printer 30 via the printer driver 20a33.

As described above, the processing result of the application 20a34 is output as print data to the printer 30 via the printer driver 20a33, and the printer 30 attaches dots on the printing paper using color ink, thereby displaying a corresponding image. Print. The printer driver 20a33 is started from the application 20a34 or the operating system 20a31. At the time of starting the printer driver 20a33, before sending print data or the like to the printer 30, the printer 30 is in an abnormal state or a normal state. A process of acquiring status information indicating an aspect is executed. The acquired status information is stored in the registry 20a35 secured in a part of the area where the operating system 20a31 is stored in the hard disk 20a3. The printer driver 20a33 converts the status information stored in the registry 20a35 into screen display data, and displays a predetermined status information display screen on the display 21 via the display driver 20a33.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver 20a33. In the figure, the printer driver 20 a 33 is composed of a journal driver 50, a user interface 52, a spool manager 53, and a spool controller 54. In such a configuration, when printing is performed by the printer 30, the journal driver 50 inputs the print data output from the application 20a34. When the journal driver 50 inputs the print data, the spool manager 53 is activated, and the print data is stored as spool data in the spool file 20a31 formed on the hard disk 20a3 by the spool manager 53.

The spool data is obtained by adding print settings or a predetermined header to the print data by the journal driver 50 or converting the print data into a drawing object or a drawing command. The spool data is sequentially sent to the spool controller 54 and transferred from the spool controller 54 to the printer 30 via the operating system 20a31, the USB I / O 20e, and the USB cable 40, and predetermined printing is executed.

On the other hand, when acquiring status information from the printer 30, the user interface 52 outputs a status information acquisition request to the journal driver 50. This acquisition request is output to the printer 30 via the journal driver 50, the spool manager 53, and the spool controller 54. When the printer 30 outputs status information corresponding to the acquisition request, it is input to the user interface 52 through the spool controller 54, the spool manager 53, and the journal driver 50. Then, data for displaying predetermined status information is generated by this user interface.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically showing the configuration of the mechanical part of the printer 30. In this figure, the printer 30 employs an ink jet system that performs printing by ejecting color ink in a dot matrix form on recording paper. More specifically, a print head 31 composed of three print head units 31a, a print head controller 32 that controls the print head 31, a print head digit moving motor 33 that moves the print head 31 in the digit direction, and a print And a paper feed motor 35 for feeding the paper in the row direction. The printer controller 30d realizes an interface among the print head controller 32, the print head digit moving motor 33, and the paper feed motor 35, and executes predetermined control.

The printer 30 uses four color inks as printing ink, and each print head unit 31a has two independent print nozzles. The color ink to be supplied can be changed for each column of print nozzles. In this case, black ink (K) is supplied to both the print head unit 31a on the left side of the drawing, and the print head unit 31a on the right side of the drawing is supplied. Supplies magenta color ink (M) to the left column and yellow color ink (Y) to the right column, and for the print head unit 31a shown in the middle, supplies cyan color (C) to the left column and right The column is not used.

In this embodiment, four color inks are used, but it is also possible to use six color inks by maximizing the use of two rows of print nozzles in the three print head units 31a. . In this case, for cyan and magenta, dark ink and light ink are used, and further, yellow and black can be used for a total of six colors. In the present embodiment, the remaining amount of ink for each ink is acquired as one of status information of the printer 30 and displayed on the display 21 of the computer main body 20 in a diagram simulating an ink tank. The remaining amount can be recognized.

FIG. 7 is a data configuration diagram showing a data configuration of status information of the printer 30 stored in the registry 20a35. In the figure, a registry 20a35 stores a record area D indicating status information acquired from the printer 30, and an attribute R of each record D1 to D3 is stored in the record area D. Records D1 to D3 store starter information acquired from the printer 30 together with control information. The attribute R specifically includes an acquisition time R1 indicating the time when each of the records D1 to D3 is acquired from the printer 30, status information R2 that is status information acquired at this time, and whether there is an abnormality in the acquisition. And a fraud flag R3 for discriminating.

That is, the acquisition time R1 indicates the time when the printer driver 20a33 accesses the printer 30 and acquires the status information, and the status information R2 includes various status information. For example, the status information includes the ink remaining amount R2a for each of the CMYK inks described above, the ink end information R2b indicating that there is no ink remaining, the ink low information R2c indicating that the ink remaining amount is small, and the like. It is said. Of course, status information for each ink CMYK is also stored for the ink end R2b and the ink low information R2c.

The illegal flag R3 is turned on when a communication error occurs when the printer driver 20a33 is communicating with the printer 30 and status information cannot be acquired normally. Written in. If status information is acquired normally, “0” is written. In the case shown in the figure, it indicates that some abnormality has occurred when the status information is acquired by communicating with the printer 30 at the acquisition time R1 “September 9, 1999 13:30:19”. . As described above, the status information R2 acquired from the printer 30 is stored in the registry 20a35 when it is acquired from the printer 30 together with the acquisition time R1 and the fraud flag R3 that are control information.

In the present embodiment, when the printer driver 20a33 causes the printer 30 to perform a printing operation, or when checking the setting of the printer 30 or changing the setting, the printer driver 20a33 needs status information of the printer 30, the printer driver 20a33 A status information acquisition control process is performed for switching between acquiring status information directly from the status information 30 and using it, or acquiring status information stored in the registry 20a35.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart schematically showing the processing contents of the status information acquisition control processing executed by the printer driver 20a33. In the figure, the printer driver 20a33 is activated by the application 20a34 or the operating system 20a31, and along with this activation, the status information of the printer 30 is provided to the activation source application 20a34 or the operating system 20a31 (step S100). . The case where it is activated by the application 20a34 corresponds to a case where a document is printed by an editor application, and the case where it is activated by the operating system 20a31 corresponds to the case where various properties of the printer 30 are set.

  When the printer driver 20a33 is activated, it is determined whether status information acquired directly from the printer 30 is provided to the application 20a34 or the operating system 20a31, or status information stored in the registry 20a35 is acquired and provided. A discrimination process for discriminating is executed (step S200). When the acquisition destination of status information is determined in this determination process, an acquisition process for acquiring status information based on this acquisition destination is executed (step S300). As described above, when the status information is acquired, data to be displayed on the display 21 is generated, and a display process for displaying the data on the display driver 20a32 is executed (step S400).

Next, more specific processing contents of steps S200 to S400 will be described using the flowcharts of FIGS.
The flowchart of FIG. 9 shows the processing contents of the discrimination processing in step S200.
In the figure, the printer driver 20a33 obtains status information directly from the printer 30 or obtains the status information stored in the registry 20a35 when it can obtain and provide the status information as described above. In determining whether the printer driver 20a33 is provided, the printer driver 20a33 is determined based on the activation source. Therefore, first, when the printer driver 20a33 is activated, the activation source that requested the activation is searched (step S205). When the search for the activation source is completed, the activation source is acquired. In the present embodiment, the activation source is roughly divided into an application 20a34 and an operating system 20a31 (step S210). Therefore, when acquired, it is determined whether or not the activation source is the application 20a34 (step S215).

If it is determined that the application is started from the application 20a34, communication is connected to the printer 30 in the acquisition process of step S300 described above, and the connection request flag for requesting that the status information is directly acquired from the printer 30 is turned OFF. That is, when the application 20a34 activates the printer driver 20a33, the status information stored in the registry 20a35 is acquired and provided (step S220). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S215 that the printer driver 20a33 is not started from the application 20a34, it is determined that the printer driver 20a33 is started by the operating system 20a31 (step S225). In such a case, when providing status information to the operating system 20a31, the connection request flag is set to ON in order to connect the printer 30 and the communication in the acquisition process of step S300 and directly acquire the status information (step S230).

When the printer driver 20a34 is activated by the application 20a34, the application 20a34 may simply cause the printer 30 to execute printing without performing various settings of the printer 30. In such a case, the status is directly received from the printer 30. The latest status information stored in the registry 20a35 is used without acquiring the information. Therefore, the user of the application 20a34 can acquire the status information of the printer 30 at high speed. On the other hand, when the printer driver 20a33 is activated in the operating system 20a31, various settings of the printer 30 are mainly performed. Accordingly, since it is necessary to recognize the state of the printer 30 in real time, in such a case, status information is acquired directly from the printer 30 even if it takes some time. Here, as a method of determining whether the application 20a34 or the operating system 20a31 has been activated in step S215, it may be determined by a command used when the print driver 20a33 is activated.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the acquisition process in step S300 in which the status information is read and acquired from either the printer 30 or the registry 20a35. In the figure, first, the connection request flag operated in step S220 or S230 in the discrimination process in step S200 is read (step S305). And it is discriminate | determined whether this connection request flag is ON (step S310). If the connection request flag is ON, the user interface 52 is communicably connected to the printer 30 via the journal driver 50, the spool manager 53, and the spool controller 54, and executes a predetermined printer communication process. Status information and control information are acquired from the printer 30 via the cable 40 (step S315). Then, the acquired status information and control information are converted into a predetermined record format, and are added and written after the last record of the registry 20a35 (step S320). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S310 that the connection request flag is OFF, the status information with the latest acquisition time R1 is searched from the records already stored in the registry 20a35 (step S325).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the contents of the printer communication process shown in step S315 of the acquisition process described above. In the figure, there are usually a plurality of status information, and the printer driver 30 requests transmission of status information one by one, and the printer 30 returns status information in response to this request. Therefore, first, the user interface 52 of the printer driver 20a32 outputs a request to send status information to the printer 30 (step S315a).

Next, status information is sent from the printer 30 to the printer driver 20a32, and it is determined whether or not the printer driver 20a32 can obtain the status information (step S315b). If it can be obtained, a communication error occurs in the communication at the time of acquisition. It is determined whether or not (step S315c). If there is no communication error, it is determined that the status information has been successfully acquired, and it is determined whether communication for all requested status information has been completed (step S315d).

If acquisition of all status information has not been completed, the process returns to step S315a to request transmission of the next status information. On the other hand, when a communication error is detected in step S315c, the fraud flag is turned ON (step S315i). As another situation where the fraud flag is turned on, there is a time-out situation when a predetermined time elapses without any response even if the printer 30 is requested to send status information in step S315a. Yes (step S315h). Here, when the acquisition of all the status information is completed, the state of the illegal flag is confirmed. If the fraud flag is not controlled to be ON, the fraud flag is turned OFF (step S315f). Finally, the current time when the printer communication process stored at the acquisition time R1 of the registry 20a35 is completed is acquired (step S315g). The status information, the fraud flag, and the acquisition time are stored in the registry 20a35.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the display processing in step S400 for displaying status information on the display 21. In the figure, first, the latest status information written or searched in the registry 20a35 in step S320 or S325 of the acquisition process described above is read (step S405). Then, the state of the connection request flag is confirmed (step S410). If the connection request flag is ON, a comment “real time data” is added (step S415), and display data is generated together with the read status information. (Step S416). Then, the data is sent to the display driver 20a32 and a predetermined screen is displayed on the display 21 (step S420). On the other hand, if the connection request flag is OFF and the status information already stored in the registry 20a35 is read, a comment “registry data” is added (step S425), and the display status information is displayed together with the read status information. Is generated (step S416). In step S420, the data is sent to the display driver 20a32 in the same manner as described above.

As described above, the determination process in step S200 is performed by connecting to the printer 30 based on the activation source of the printer driver 20a32 and directly obtaining real-time status information, or the latest status information already read into the registry 20a35. The configuration is adopted to determine whether to acquire the. Here, the method for determining whether the status information is directly acquired from the printer 30 or the status information stored in the registry 20a35 is particularly limited to a method based on the starting source of the printer driver 20a32. For example, the status information acquisition time acquired from the printer 30 is determined based on whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous acquisition time, that is, the status information acquisition access time interval to the preceding and subsequent printers 30. May be adopted.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the determination processing when a configuration for determining whether status information is directly acquired from the printer 30 or acquired from the registry 20a35 based on the interval time is adopted.
In the figure, first, the status information and control information stored in the registry 20a35 are read out (step S240). Then, the acquisition time R1 of the last record, that is, the record storing the status information and the like is finally read from the printer 30 (step S245). Next, the current time is acquired (step S255). The difference between the current time and the time stored in the acquisition time R1 is calculated, that is, the interval time when the printer driver 20a33 is activated is calculated (step S251), and this interval time has elapsed for a predetermined time. It is determined whether or not (step S225).

If the predetermined time has elapsed, it is determined that the status information read from the printer 30 and stored in the registry 20a35 is “old”, the connection request flag is turned ON, and the status information directly from the printer 30 in the subsequent acquisition processing. Is acquired (step S260). On the other hand, if the predetermined time has not elapsed, it is determined that the status information stored in the registry 20a35 is “new”, the connection request flag is turned OFF, and this registry is not connected to the printer 30 in the acquisition process. The status information stored in 20a35 is acquired.

Further, the method for determining whether the status information is directly acquired from the printer 30 or the status information stored in the registry 20a35 in the determination process is not limited to the two methods described above. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing other processing contents of other determination processing. In the figure, first, the registry 20a35 is read (step S270), and the status information R2 of the record acquired from the printer 30 at the latest time stored in the registry 20a35 is read (step S271). Then, the ink end R2b and the ink low R2c are read from the status information R2, and the illegal flag R3 is read (step S275). Then, it is determined whether an ink end has occurred for any of CMYK (step S280), and if it has occurred, the acquisition of step S300 is performed in order to confirm whether the ink of the printer 30 has been replaced. The connection request flag is set to ON in order to connect to the printer 30 in the processing and directly acquire the status information (step S285).

In addition, although it is determined in step S280 that no ink end has occurred, if there is an ink low for any of CMYK, there is a possibility that normal printing cannot be realized. Is determined (step S286). If inclaw has occurred, the connection request flag is turned ON in step S285. If no ink end or ink low occurs in any of CMYK, it is determined whether or not the fraud flag is ON (step S287). If the illegal flag is ON, the connection request flag is turned ON in step S285.

On the other hand, if neither ink end nor ink low has occurred and the illegal flag is OFF, it is determined that the latest status information stored in the registry 20a35 is accurate, the connection request flag is turned OFF, For the activation of the printer driver 20a33, the latest record of the registry 20a35 is provided. By adopting the present embodiment, when the status information cannot be normally acquired when the status information is directly read from the printer 30 last time, the status information is directly received from the printer 30 again when the next printer driver 20a33 is started. By reading the, normal status information can be acquired.

In addition, since the remaining amount of ink is small and the user may have replaced the ink based on the status information of the remaining amount of ink, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of this replacement. Further, in the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which the determination based on the activation source, the determination based on the interval time, and the determination based on the status information regarding the remaining ink amount in the status and control information or the determination based on the fraud flag are individually performed. However, it goes without saying that it is not necessary to configure these components individually, and it is possible to employ a configuration in which they are determined in combination.

Thus, by acquiring and providing status information already stored in the registry 20a35 corresponding to the situation when the printer driver 20a33 is activated, it is possible to speed up the acquisition of status information. It was. From the viewpoint of speeding up the acquisition of status information, it is possible to speed up the acquisition of status information by limiting the status information acquired according to the situation.

FIG. 15 is a screen diagram illustrating an example of the printer status information display screen 60 displayed on the display 21 according to the present embodiment. In the figure, a printer status information display screen 60 includes, as display screens, a general screen 61 for inputting general settings, a detail screen 62 for performing detailed settings, a basic setting screen 63 for performing basic settings, A paper setting screen 64 for setting paper, a layout screen 65 for setting a printing mode for printing paper, and a utility screen 65 for causing the printer 30 to execute a predetermined control operation are provided. In addition, as a common screen displayed on each screen, an OK button 69, a cancel button 70, an apply button 71, a help button 72, and a latest button 73 are arranged at the bottom of the printer status information display screen 60. Has been. The user uses these buttons when making various settings.

In the upper part of the printer status information display screen 60, there is a status information mode display area 74 for “real time data” or “registry data” included in the display data generated by the display processing described above. Display either one. As a result, the user can determine whether the currently displayed status information has been acquired from the printer 30 in real time or has already been stored in the registry 20a35. In this embodiment, status information is displayed on the basic setting screen 63. On the basic setting screen 63, ink information 67 and an ink remaining amount 68 are arranged on the screen, and the ink information 67 selects color or monochrome based on the specifications of the printer 30. The remaining ink level 68 displays the remaining ink level which is status information of the CMYK ink tanks of the printer 30. In the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which only the remaining ink amount is displayed on the screen among various types of status information. Of course, other status information may be displayed on the screen in a predetermined display form. Good.

As described above, whether to acquire the status information of the printer 30 directly from the printer 30 or to acquire the status information already stored in the registry 20a35 in accordance with the situation where the printer driver 20a33 is activated. When the printer driver 20a33 is activated from the application 20a34 or when the printer driver 20a33 is activated within a predetermined time, the status information is stored by using the status information already stored in the registry 20a35. Acquisition and display speedup can be realized.

Also, depending on the content of the status information stored in the registry 20a35, that is, when ink end or ink low is acquired when the status information is acquired from the printer 30 last time, work such as ink replacement is performed after acquisition of the status information. Since the status information is directly acquired from the printer 30 when the printer driver 20a33 is activated next time, the latest status information can be acquired.

It is a functional block diagram about the function implement | achieved by the status information acquisition control program concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic external view of a computer system to which the present status information acquisition control program is applied. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer main body 20 and a printer 30 constituting a computer system 10. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the program stored in the hard disk 20a3. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver 20a33. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a mechanical part of the printer 30. FIG. 3 is a data configuration diagram showing a data configuration of status information of a printer 30 stored in a registry 20a35. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of processing contents of status information acquisition control processing executed by a printer driver 20a33. It is the flowchart which showed the processing content of the discrimination | determination process. It is the flowchart which showed the processing content of acquisition processing. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing contents of printer communication processing. It is the flowchart which showed the processing content of the display process. It is the flowchart which showed the other processing content of the discrimination | determination process. It is the flowchart which showed the other processing content of the discrimination | determination process. It is the screen figure which showed an example of the screen which displayed status information.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 ... Computer main body 30 ... Printer P ... Status information acquisition control program F1 ... Acquisition function F2 ... Storage acquisition function F3 ... Detection function F4 ... Acquisition control function M ... Storage area S ... Status information A1-An ... Acquisition request destination

Claims (9)

A medium recording a status information acquisition control program for causing the computer to execute control processing for acquiring status information from a printer connected to the computer,
An acquisition function for acquiring predetermined status information of the printer to be connected;
A storage acquisition function for storing status information acquired by the acquisition function in a predetermined storage area of the computer, and reading and acquiring the stored status information from the storage area;
A detection function for detecting the type of program that issued the acquisition request when receiving an acquisition request for status information issued by a predetermined program;
Based on the detected difference in the type of program, predetermined status information is acquired from the printer connected by the acquisition function, or status information already stored in the storage area is acquired by the storage acquisition function. A medium on which a status information acquisition control program for executing an acquisition control function for controlling whether or not to execute is recorded. In the medium in which the status information acquisition control program according to claim 1 is recorded,
The acquisition control function records a status information acquisition control program characterized by limiting status information to be acquired by the acquisition function and the storage acquisition function based on the status of the acquisition request received by the detection function. Medium. In a medium on which the status information acquisition control program according to claim 1 or 2 is recorded,
The detection function searches for predetermined status information already stored in the storage area, and the acquisition control function performs predetermined abnormality or illegality on the predetermined status information already stored in the storage area by the detection function. A medium on which a status information acquisition control program is recorded, which is configured to acquire predetermined status information of a printer connected by the acquisition function when it is detected that information is included. A status information acquisition control device that controls acquisition of status information from a connected printer,
Acquisition means for acquiring predetermined status information of the printer to be connected;
Storing the status information acquired by the acquisition means in a predetermined storage area of the apparatus, and storing and acquiring means for reading out and acquiring the stored status information from the storage area;
Detecting means for detecting the type of the program that issued the acquisition request when receiving the acquisition request for status information issued by the predetermined program;
Based on the detected difference in the type of program, the acquisition unit acquires predetermined status information from the connected printer, or the storage acquisition unit acquires status information already stored in the storage area. A status information acquisition control apparatus comprising: an acquisition control means for controlling whether to perform the control. In the status information acquisition control device according to claim 4,
The status information acquisition control apparatus, wherein the acquisition control unit limits status information to be acquired by the acquisition unit and the storage acquisition unit based on the status of the acquisition request received by the detection unit. In the status information acquisition control device according to claim 4 or 5,
The detection means searches for predetermined status information already stored in the storage area, and the acquisition control means adds predetermined abnormality or fraudulent information to the predetermined status information already stored in the storage area. A status information acquisition control device that acquires predetermined status information of a printer connected to the acquisition means when it is detected that the information is included. A status information acquisition control method for controlling acquisition of status information from a printer connected to a computer,
An acquisition step of acquiring predetermined status information of the printer to be connected;
A storage acquisition step of storing the status information acquired in the acquisition step in a predetermined storage area of the computer, and reading and acquiring the stored status information from the storage area;
A detection step of detecting a type of a program that has issued the acquisition request when receiving an acquisition request for status information issued by a predetermined program;
Based on the difference in the type of the detected program, predetermined status information is acquired from the printer connected in the acquisition step, or status information already stored in the storage area is acquired in the storage acquisition step. A status information acquisition control method comprising: an acquisition control step for controlling whether to perform the control. In the status information acquisition control method according to claim 7,
The acquisition control step limits the status information to be acquired by the acquisition step and the storage acquisition step based on the status of the acquisition request received in the detection step. In the status information acquisition control method according to any one of claims 7 and 8,
The detection step searches for predetermined status information already stored in the storage area, and the acquisition control step determines whether the predetermined status information already stored in the storage area in the detection step has a predetermined abnormality or fraud. A status information acquisition control method comprising: acquiring predetermined status information of a printer connected in the acquisition step when it is detected that information is included.

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