JPH09282118A - Printing device selection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically select a printing device to be used according to the kind of print data by providing a means which selects the printing device corresponding to the kind of the print data on the basis of decision and reference results of respective means. SOLUTION: This system has a means 11 which decides the kind of data generated and edited by application software, a means 12 which sets the correspondence between the kind of the data and the desired printer to be used corresponding to it, and a means, 13 which refers to the correspondence set by the setting means 12. Then it is decided whether an automatic selecting process is used by reading in data held in a storage part 4 in a computer device 10. Then the name (ID) of the printing device is obtained by searching the correspondence data set by the setting means 12 for which printing device corresponds to the decided kind of the data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device selection method, and more particularly to a printing device selection method that enables automatic selection of a printing device to be used according to the type of print data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a printing apparatus selection method in a system in which one or more computer apparatuses and a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected, a method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-259821 is known. ing. In this method, the computer device (terminal, etc.) that is the management source manages the capacity and usage status of the printing device, and automatically selects the optimal printing device and performs printing in response to print requests from each terminal. The control is performed.

[0003]

In the above prior art, when the management terminal receives a print request from another terminal, it refers to the management data for managing the operating status of each printing device. Then, the printing apparatus corresponding to the printing speed, the installation location, etc. suitable for executing the above-described print request is selected and the printing is executed. In this method, the type of print data included in the print request is Not considered. Therefore, for example, in the case where the data created or edited by the application software operating on a certain computer device is to be printed out by the printing device, the operator preselects the printing device suitable for the above data on the application software. Had to do. This corresponds to selection of a monochrome / color printer or the like. If you want to continue using the same printer (for example, monochrome printer), set the default printer to that printer, but frequently use different printers such as color printing and monochrome printing. In this case, the work of switching the printer used has been a heavy burden on the operator. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the related art and to provide a printing device selection method capable of automatically selecting a printer (printing device) to be used. To provide.

[0004]

The above object of the present invention is a printer selection method in a system comprising one or more computer devices and a plurality of printers connected to each other.
A unit for determining the type of print data output from the computer device, a unit for setting and referring to the correspondence between the type of print data and the printing device used, and printing based on the determination and reference results of each unit. This is achieved by a printing device selection method characterized by having a means for selecting a printing device corresponding to the type of data.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the printing device selection method according to the present invention, the correspondence between the type of print data and the printing device used for printing is defined in advance, so that the optimum type corresponding to the type of print data can be obtained. The printing device can be automatically selected to reduce the burden on the operator. In the printing device selection method according to the second aspect, when there are a plurality of printing devices used for printing the same type of print data, a means for setting and referring to the usage priority is provided.
Among a plurality of printing apparatuses, an operator can automatically select a desired printing apparatus in order. Furthermore,
In the printing apparatus selection method according to the third aspect, a flexible system configuration is realized by providing switching means between the above-described automatic selection method and the conventional operator manual selection method. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a computer device 10 in which a printing device selection method according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented. In the figure, 1 is a control unit for executing a printing device selection process according to the present embodiment, 2 is an input unit for inputting a command to the control unit 1 from an operator, and 3 is a CRT.
A screen display unit configured of a device and an LCD device to display various messages output from the control unit 1 to the operator. Reference numeral 4 denotes a storage unit for holding various data, which is input / output by an instruction from the control unit 1. Here, a magnetic disk device is used as the storage unit 4, but the storage unit 4 is not limited to this.

FIG. 2 illustrates a computer device 10 as described above.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration example in which a table is used and a plurality of printing apparatuses (1) to (n) are connected to the table. Here, the computer device 10 executes the application software,
The printer has a function of performing all of the printing apparatus selection processing and the printing processing according to this embodiment. The connection form may be a connection via a LAN, a direct connection, or the like, but any connection form may be used.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the computer device 10 described above.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration example in which a table is used and a plurality of printing apparatuses (1) to (n) are connected to the table. In this case, the execution of the application software, the printing device selecting process according to the present embodiment, and the function of executing the printing process are shared by different computer devices. Also in this case, the connection form between the computer device and the printing device does not matter. Here, a computer device (1) (corresponding to a client) that executes application software, and a computer device (2) (corresponding to a server) that executes the printing device selection process and the printing process according to the present embodiment. , And the computer device (2) and a plurality of printing devices are also connected.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing an outline of the printing device selection processing according to the present embodiment. In the figure, 11 is a means for discriminating the type of data created and edited by application software, 12 is a means for setting the type of data and the correspondence of the printing device to be used in correspondence therewith, and 13 is the setting means 12 described above. The means for referring to the type of data set in step 1 and the correspondence of the printing device to be used correspondingly. As a method of implementing the setting means 12, (a) a method of incorporating and using as a function of application software, (b) a method of separately preparing application software for setting, (c) a method of using a general-purpose text editor, etc. However, any method may be used.

The setting means 12 also includes means for setting whether the set contents are valid or invalid. Further, the data set by the setting means 12 is stored in the storage unit 4 of the computer device 2. FIG. 5 shows a definition example of the data set by the setting means 12. In this example, two types (data type 1 and data type 2) are defined as the types of data. The data type 1 distinguishes whether or not color data is included, and is classified into monochrome / color. Further, the data type 2 distinguishes the paper size according to the size of the data, and is classified into A3 / A4 or the like.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, printer names (ID) used in correspondence with the above-mentioned combinations of data types are sequentially defined. The priority field is necessary for the processing corresponding to the invention described in claim 2. Also, the remarks field is just a comment, and it does not matter if it is not described. FIG.
This is a field for setting whether the entire setting as shown in FIG. 5 is valid or invalid, and ON or OFF is defined. This is necessary for the processing corresponding to the invention described in claim 2.

The operation of this embodiment constructed as described above is
This will be described below. FIG. 7 shows a processing flow from when a print execution command is issued by the application software to when printing is actually performed. Prior to this processing, it is assumed that the data exemplified in FIG. 5 has been defined in advance by the means 12 for setting the type of the above-mentioned data and the correspondence of the printing apparatus to be used correspondingly. First, the operator operates the application software operating on the computer to select and execute the print command. By this operation, the application software passes the data to be printed to the next process.
(Step 21).

In the conventional processing method, this next step corresponds to driver (print processing) software capable of generating and sending a command corresponding to each printing device (see FIG. 8A). On the other hand, in the processing method according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8B, a process of determining the data type between the application software and each driver software and selecting the corresponding printing device. Intervenes. The print data created / edited by the application software in step 21 described above is passed to the process (program) for executing the process according to the present embodiment.

Next, at step 22, with reference to the definition example shown in FIG. 6, whether or not to use the automatic selection process according to the present embodiment is held in the storage unit 4 in the computer device. Determined by reading the existing data This corresponds to the invention described in claim 3. When the setting is such that the automatic selection process is not used (OFF), the data is passed to the driver software of the printing device specified in the application software (step 23) as in the conventional case, and the driver software is transferred to the printing device. Printing is executed by sending an appropriate print command (step 24).

If it is determined in step 22 that the automatic selection process is to be used (ON), the process of the automatic selection process according to the present embodiment is as follows.
The type of data received is determined (step 25). Next, the correspondence data set by the means 12 for setting the correspondence of the above-mentioned data type and the printing device to be used in correspondence with the above-mentioned data type is searched for which the printing device corresponding to the determined data type corresponds. The printer is searched for and the name (ID) of the printing device is obtained (step 26).

Next, for the driver software corresponding to the printing device selected in step 26, step 2
The data received from the application software in 1 is passed as it is (step 27). The driver software for the printing device that received the data executes the printing process.
(Step 28). If the printing apparatus can be used in step 28 and printing is normally executed, the process ends (step 29).

When the driver software detects any error and notifies the process of the automatic selection processing according to the present embodiment of the error, the next priority corresponding to the same data type is determined in step 30. 5 is searched for from the table shown in FIG. 5, and if not, it is considered that printing is not possible, and the process ends. If there is, the printer name (ID) is obtained and the same processing is repeated. The operation of the above embodiment corresponds to the invention of claim 2.

As described above, according to each of the above-described embodiments, it is not necessary for the operator to select (switch) the printing apparatus each time printing is performed, and labor saving can be realized. Further, when the priority of the printing apparatus is set as in the second aspect of the invention, the printing apparatus of the next priority can be automatically selected, and the labor saving of the operation can be realized. It should be noted that the above embodiment is an example of the present invention, and it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this.

[0019]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a printing device selection system in which a printer (printing device) to be used can be automatically selected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a computer device in which a printing device selection method according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration example in which one computer device shown in FIG. 1 is used and a plurality of printing devices are connected to the computer device.

3 is a diagram showing a system configuration example in which two computer devices shown in FIG. 1 are used and these are connected to a plurality of printing devices.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing an outline of printing device selection processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a definition example of data set by means 12 for setting the type of data and the correspondence of the printing apparatus to be used correspondingly.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a field for setting whether the entire setting as shown in FIG. 5 is valid or invalid.

FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart of printing device selection processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a comparative explanatory view of the processing processes of the conventional technology and the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 control unit 2 input unit 3 screen display unit 4 storage unit 10 computer unit 11 means for discriminating the type of data created and edited by application software 12 setting the type of data and the correspondence of the printing device to be used Means 13 A means for referring to the correspondence of the type of data set by the setting means 12 and the printing device to be used correspondingly

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printing device selection method in a system in which one or more computer devices and a plurality of printing devices are connected to each other, and means for determining the type of print data output from the computer device, and printing. It has a means for setting and referring to the correspondence between the type of data and the printing device to be used, and a means for selecting the printing device corresponding to the type of print data based on the result of discrimination and reference by each of the means. Printing device selection method. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, in addition to the respective means, means for setting and referring to a use priority when there are a plurality of printing apparatuses used for printing the same type of print data. Printer selection method. 3. The printing device selection method according to claim 1, further comprising switching means for switching a selection result of the printing device selecting means and an operator's selection result.