JP2003048361A - Printing system, printing apparatus, and printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To reduce user's setting operation. Each time a CPU 109 of a printer 101 receives a print setting from a computer 101, the CPU 109 totals the type of use frequency. The tallying result is sent to the computer 101 and displayed on the display unit 102 before printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system, a printing apparatus and a printing control method for printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing system is known in which a plurality of personal computers and a printer (printing device) are connected to a LAN or the like. In such a printing system, it is possible for the printer to display a preset value or a preset value for the previous printing on the information processing apparatus side before printing.

[0003]

However, in the conventional technique, when the user changes the print settings for special printing, the settings must be returned to the print settings that are normally used.

Therefore, in view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing system and a printing apparatus in which the user can omit the operation of returning the print settings even if the print settings are changed for special printing. And a print control method.

[0005]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention of claim 1 has an information processing apparatus and a printing apparatus for printing print data provided by the information processing apparatus, In a printing system in which settings can be set by the information processing device or the printing device, the printing system has a tallying unit that tallies the setting frequency for each type of print settings, and the setting frequency is highest based on the tallying result of the tallying unit. The print setting of the type is displayed on the display unit of the information processing apparatus.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect, the totalizing means is provided on the printing device side.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect, the totalizing means is provided on the information processing side.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect, the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus are connected by a network.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for printing print data provided by the information processing apparatus, wherein the print settings can be set by the information processing apparatus or the printing apparatus. It is characterized by having a totalizing means for totalizing the setting frequency for each, and displaying the print setting of the type having the highest setting frequency on the display unit of the information processing apparatus based on the totaling result of the totalizing means. According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the printing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus are connected by a network.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in a printing system having an information processing device and a printing device for printing print data provided by the information processing device, print settings can be set by the information processing device or the printing device. In the print control method, the setting frequency is aggregated for each type of print settings, and based on the result of the aggregation, the print setting of the type with the highest setting frequency is displayed on the display unit of the information processing apparatus. .

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the print control method according to the seventh aspect, the totalizing process is performed on the printing device side.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the print control method according to the seventh aspect, the totalizing process is performed on the information processing device side.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the print control method according to the seventh aspect, the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus are connected by a network.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the system configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 101 is a general-purpose personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as computer), 10
2 is a display unit of the computer, 103 is a CPU for controlling the computer, 104 is a storage device for storing computer control programs, data, etc., 105 is a communication interface unit of the computer, 106 is a network between the computer and the printer, and 107 is Printer, 1
Reference numeral 08 is an output unit that prints out print data, 109 is a CPU that controls the printer, 110 is a storage device that stores printer control programs, data, and the like, and 111 is a printer communication interface unit.

Since the configuration of the personal computer itself is well known, detailed description will be omitted. Instead of the personal computer, an information processing device such as a server computer, a workstation, a mobile terminal, or the like that can instruct the printer to print can be used as the information processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the processing contents of the first embodiment of the present invention.

The print control method according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. The printer 10
It is assumed that the storage device 110 of No. 7 stores aggregate data as shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the type of document to be printed (document, photo, graphics) can be set by the computer 101, and the printer 107 determines the print image quality according to the set type.

The user asks the computer 101
When the printer to be used is designated by the keyboard or the mouse to start the printing, the application name is sent from the computer 101 to the printer 107 (S10).
1).

The CPU 109 of the printer 107 refers to the tabulated data in FIG. 4, picks up the print setting with the highest frequency among the applications, and notifies the computer 101 via the communication interface 111 (S102).

When print settings are received from the printer 107 via the communication interface 105, the computer 1
The CPU 103 of 01 stores the received print data in the storage device 1
After it is stored in 04, it is displayed on the display unit 102 (S10).
3).

As in the conventional case, it is possible to change the current print setting contents of the setting contents displayed on the display unit by selecting numerical values from the keyboard or setting items with the mouse. In this example, the print target, that is, the print target object stored on the computer 101 side is a document composed of characters or the like, an image such as a photograph, or graphics created by drawing software or the like. It is assumed that the type can be specified, and the document is currently set on the printer 107 side. Therefore, the document is displayed on the display unit 102 as a set item.

When the user changes the setting, the mouse is used to specify another type with the mouse. According to this designation, the print settings stored in the storage device 104 are CP.
It is changed by U103 (S104 → S105). The display of the print settings displayed on the display unit is also changed according to the change (S103). After that, the user designates the name of an application (also called an object or a file) to be printed and gives a printing instruction using a mouse or the like.

In response to this instruction, the CPU 103 transmits an application corresponding to the designated application name, that is, print data to the transmission printer 107.
At this time, the CPU 103 also sends the application name and the finally displayed print setting, that is, the print setting stored in the storage device 104 as the print setting value (S1).
06).

The CPU 109 of the printer 107 totalizes the sent application names and print settings, and the storage device 11
The total data of 0 in FIG. 4 is updated (S107). For example, when a document is specified as a print target object, the frequency corresponding to the application name is incremented by 1 (addition of 1), and the total application value is updated to a new total value.

(Other Embodiments) 1) In the above-described embodiment, the print setting of the printer 107 is changed on the computer 101 side. However, when the print setting can be made also on the operation unit of the printer 107 side, The frequency of print settings at that time may be totaled. If print settings cannot be made on the computer 101 side, the types of print settings made by the operation unit on the printer side are totaled. 2) In the above example, the print control of the printer connected to the network has been described, but the present invention can be applied to a stand-alone system or a system in which a computer and a printer are directly connected without going through the network. In this case, the computer may total the type contents of the print settings and store the total result. In addition, it goes without saying that the contents of the settings made by each computer connected to the network may be totaled and displayed for each type. 3) Since the contents of the print settings are different for each printer model, the setting items for totaling the frequencies may be set appropriately.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the most frequently used setting value can be displayed on the screen before the printing is started, it is possible to reduce the frequency of changing the setting value and the labor of the printing person.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a summary content.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 computer 102 display 103 CPU 104 storage device 105 Communication interface section 106 network 107 Printer 108 Output section 109 CPU 110 storage device 111 Communication interface section

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A print system comprising an information processing device and a printing device for printing print data provided by the information processing device, wherein print settings can be set by the information processing device or the printing device. Printing having a totalizing means for totalizing the setting frequency for each type and displaying the print setting of the type with the highest setting frequency on the display unit of the information processing device based on the totaling result of the totalizing means system. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the totalizing unit is provided on the printing device side. 3. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the totalizing unit is provided on the information processing side. 4. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus are connected by a network. 5. A printing device for printing print data provided by an information processing device, wherein the print setting can be set by the information processing device or the printing device, and the setting frequency is set for each type of print setting. A printing apparatus comprising: a tallying means for tallying, and a print setting of a type having the highest setting frequency is displayed on a display unit of the information processing apparatus based on a tallying result of the tallying means. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus are connected by a network. 7. A printing system having an information processing device and a printing device for printing print data provided by the information processing device, in a print control method capable of setting print settings by the information processing device or the printing device, A print control method characterized by totalizing the setting frequency for each type of print settings and displaying the print setting of the type having the highest setting frequency on the display unit of the information processing device based on the result of the totaling. 8. The print control method according to claim 7, wherein the totalizing process is performed on the printing apparatus side. 9. The print control method according to claim 7, wherein the processing of totaling is performed on the side of the information processing apparatus. 10. The print control method according to claim 7, wherein the information processing apparatus and the printing apparatus are connected via a network.