JP2000298559A - Printer driver - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To prevent unintended issuance of a print job in a printer driver. SOLUTION: Receiving means 7 for receiving a print job from an application, transmitting means 12 for transmitting the print job to a printer, analyzing means 8 for analyzing print information of the print job, and printing analyzed by the analyzing means 8 A printer driver including: a print information acquisition unit 9 for acquiring print information of a job; a notification unit 10 for notifying the application of the print information; and a confirmation unit 11 for prompting a user who has requested a print job to reconfirm the print information. 3 is assumed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printer driver for controlling a printing operation in a printer, a multifunction printer, or a printer using a digital copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, document data (documents, presentation materials, CAD design data, etc.) created on a PC (personal computer) or the like is printed by a printer or a multifunction printer based on a digital copying machine. Opportunities have increased. To perform such printing, each application performs a printing operation by designating one printer for the created print job.

In order to realize this printing operation,
A printer driver that manages spooling of a print job, output of the print job, and the like is activated and performs printing.

[0004]

In such a conventional technique, there is a problem that it is difficult to know the time from when a user executes a print job until the user actually prints. For example, if the print job is temporarily congested, the user may have to wait a little from printing request to printing.

Here, whether the print job has been accepted by the printer can be determined by checking the status of the printer. However, if this operation is neglected because the confirmation operation is troublesome, the print job is retransmitted on the assumption that the print job has not been issued. Further, if the user who issued the print job does not sufficiently recognize the method of checking the status information of the printer, the print job may be transmitted many times before printing is performed.

[0006] When such a process is performed, the same print job is unnecessarily issued, so that printing paper, toner, ink, and power are wasted.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer driver capable of preventing issuance of an unintended print job.

[0008]

In order to solve this problem, a printer driver according to the present invention comprises: a receiving unit for receiving a print job from an application; a transmitting unit for transmitting a print job to a printer; Analysis means for analyzing the print information; print information acquisition means for acquiring print information of the print job analyzed by the analysis means; notification means for notifying the application of the print information; and printing to the user who has requested the print job print It has a configuration having a confirmation means for prompting reconfirmation of information.

[0009] Thus, since the user who has issued the print job confirms the acceptance of the print job, it is possible to prevent unintended issuance of the print job.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving unit for receiving a print job from an application, a transmitting unit for transmitting a print job to a printer,
Analysis means for analyzing print information of the print job, print information acquisition means for acquiring print information of the print job analyzed by the analysis means, notification means for notifying the print information to the application, and a print request for the print job. The printer driver includes a confirmation unit that prompts the user to reconfirm the print information. Since the reception of the print job is confirmed by the user who has issued the print job, it is possible to prevent the issuance of an unintended print job. It has the action of:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving a print job from an application, a transmitting means for transmitting a print job to a printer, and sending of print information and a print job of the print job. Analyzing means for analyzing the elapsed time, print information acquiring means for acquiring print information of the print job analyzed by the analyzing means, notifying means for notifying the application of the print information, and a log of the print job analyzed by the analyzing means. Print job log management means for recording and managing the print job, time measurement means for measuring the time from receiving a predetermined print job from the same application until receiving a print job having the same file name as the print job, and time measurement means. When the measured time is shorter than a predetermined time, the user is notified of the print information by the notification means. A printer driver having a confirmation unit for prompting the user to reconfirm the print information so that when a print job of the same file from the same application is issued at an interval shorter than the set time, the user is prompted to reconfirm the print information. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the issuance of an unintended print job.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the set time in the time measuring means is a printer driver which can be set by a user. Since the set value of the determination time can be freely adjusted, there is an effect that it is possible to perform a setting according to the user's preference.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving a print job from an application, a transmitting means for transmitting a print job to a printer, an analyzing means for analyzing print information of the print job, A print information acquisition unit that acquires print information of the print job analyzed by the analysis unit, a notification unit that notifies the application of the print information, and a print job log management that records and manages a log of the print job analyzed by the analysis unit. Means for receiving a predetermined print job from the same application, spell checking means for checking spelling of text information in the print job, and notifying the user of the print information when a spelling error is found by the spell checking means. Printer driver having a confirmation means for prompting reconfirmation of the Because so modify the print job is misspelled is prompted to the user in which the, has the effect that it is possible to eliminate waste printing issuance of unintended print job misspelled.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, words for which spell checking is not performed are printer drivers that can be registered by a user. Since the spell check function does not work, there is an effect that a setting suitable for the user's preference can be performed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving a print job from an application, a transmitting means for transmitting a print job to a printer, and sending of print information and a print job of the print job. Analyzing means for analyzing the elapsed time, print information acquiring means for acquiring print information of the print job analyzed by the analyzing means, notifying means for notifying the application of the print information, and a log of the print job analyzed by the analyzing means. Print job log management means for recording and managing print jobs, print job storage means for storing print jobs for a predetermined time or a predetermined capacity, and a print job having the same file name as the print job after receiving the predetermined print job from the same application Is received, the new print job stored in the print job storage unit is received. A printer driver having a difference measuring unit for obtaining a difference between the data of the print job after the printing and a checking unit for notifying the user of the print information and prompting the user to confirm the difference when no difference is generated by the difference measuring unit. When the contents of the print job transmitted from the user match, the user is prompted to reconfirm the print information, so that it is possible to prevent the issuance of an unintended print job. Having.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the sixth aspect, the storage time and storage capacity of the print job stored in the print job storage means can be set by a user. Since the driver is a driver, the user can adjust the capacity of the file stored in the print job storage unit and the time for storing the file, and thus has an effect that a setting suitable for the user's preference can be performed.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ON / OFF means for setting ON / OFF of the operation of the confirmation means. Since the printer driver can stop checking the print information of the print job one by one, it has an effect that the setting according to the user's preference can be performed.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In these drawings, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description is omitted.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a network printer in which a printer driver according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is connected to a network, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver.

As shown in FIG. 1, a PC (terminal) on which an application 1 is installed and a print request is made by a user on a network 5 as a connection device.
2. A printer 4 for executing document printing by a printer driver 3 for controlling print data is connected. Then, the print job 6 issued by the application 1 is sent to the printer driver 3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the printer driver 3 includes a receiving unit 7 for receiving a print job 6 from the application 1, a transmitting unit 12 for transmitting the print job 6 to the printer 4, Analysis means 8 for analyzing print information; file name of print job 6 set by application 1; number of printed pages; number of copies;
A print information acquisition unit 9 for acquiring print information analyzed by an analysis unit 8 such as a monochrome print format; a notifying unit 10 for notifying the application 1 of the print information; Means 11 for prompting reconfirmation of ON, and ON / O of the operation of confirmation means 11
ON / OFF means 13 for performing FF setting.

FIG. 1 and Embodiments 2 to be described later
3, FIG. 5, and FIG. 7, each device is connected to the network 5 one by one. However, the required number of PCs 2 and printers 4 can be connected.

Next, the operation of the network printer having the above configuration will be described.

First, a print job 6 is issued by the application 1 in order to print the document created by the application 1 on the printer 4. Then, this print job 6 is sent to the printer driver 3 as shown by in FIG.

In the printer driver 3, the sent print job 6 is acquired by using the print information acquiring means 9.
Then, the print job 6 sent by the analysis unit 8 is sent.
The print information such as the file name, the number of prints, the number of prints, and the print mode such as color / monochrome or photo / text is analyzed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the print information as a result of this analysis is collected and sent to the PC 2 by the notifying means 10, and is notified to the user via the display device of the PC 2.

Then, the user uses the confirmation means 11 to reconfirm the print information. Thus, the user
By receiving the print information, the printer driver 3 can know that the print job 6 has been received, and by checking the print information, it can be confirmed whether or not the print mode desired by the user is set. it can.

As a result of the user confirming the print information using the confirming means 11, for example, if the user originally wanted color output but was in the monochrome mode, the changed part was set again and FIG. As shown, a reply to the print request is notified. If there is no change, the fact is notified in the flow shown in FIG.

After receiving the reply from the user, the printer driver 3 sends the actual print job 6 to the printer 4 by the sending means 12 as shown by the symbol in FIG.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user who has issued the print request inadvertently issues the same print job 6 twice or more, or avoids a printing operation in a print mode not desired by the user. be able to. By preventing the unintended issuance of the print job 6, it is possible to reduce printing waste.

When it is not necessary to reconfirm the print information for the print job 6, the user can stop the confirmation of the print job 6 by using the ON / OFF means 13, so that the setting suitable for the user's preference can be performed. Can be.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a network printer in which a printer driver according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention is connected to a network, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver.

As shown, in the present embodiment, the printer driver 3 includes a receiving unit 7 for receiving a print job 6 from the application 1, a transmitting unit 12 for transmitting the print job 6 to the printer 4, and a print job 6. Analysis means 8 for analyzing the print information of the print job 6 and the time at which the print job 6 was sent, and the print job 6 analyzed by the analysis means 8
A print information obtaining unit 9 for obtaining print information of the print job, a notification unit 10 for notifying the print information to the application 1, a print job log management unit 14 for recording and managing a log of the print job 6 analyzed by the analysis unit 8, and A time measuring unit 15 for measuring a time from when a predetermined print job 6 is received from the same application to when a print job 6 having the same file name as the print job 6 is received, and the time measured by the time measuring unit 15 is predetermined. When the time is shorter than the set time, there is provided a checking means 11 for notifying the user of the printing information by the notifying means 10 and prompting the user to confirm the printing information, and an ON / OFF means 13 for setting ON / OFF of the operation of the checking means 11 I have. The above-mentioned set time can be set by the user.

Next, the operation of the network printer having the above configuration will be described.

First, a print job 6 is issued by the application 1 in order to print the document created by the application 1 on the printer 4. Then, this print job 6 is sent to the printer driver 3 as shown by in FIG.

In the printer driver 3, the sent print job 6 is acquired by the print information acquiring means 9. Then, the analysis unit 8 analyzes the type and file name of the application for the print job 6 and the time at which the print job 6 was sent.

The results of the analysis of the print job 6 sent to the printer driver 3 are recorded and stored as a log of the print job 6 by the print job log management means 14 for each file.

Next, for the print job 6 input in the flow of FIG. 3, the same file of the same application 1 is selected from the past print jobs 6 already recorded in the print job log management means 14. It is searched whether a print job 6 with the name exists. If there is a corresponding past print job 6, the time interval between the input time of the newest print job 6 and the input time of the currently input print job 6 is calculated.

If the calculated time is shorter than the preset time, there is a possibility that the print job has been issued twice. At this time, as shown in FIG. At 10, the data is sent to the PC 2 to notify the user through the display device. Then, on the user side, the reconfirmation of the print information is performed by the confirmation unit 11.

The user determines whether or not to actually issue two print jobs in response to the received reconfirmation request.
If the user wants to execute the printing according to the content, the printer driver 3 is notified as shown in FIG. When this notification is received by the receiving means 7 of the printer driver 3, as shown in FIG.
And print is executed. If printing is unnecessary, a notification to that effect is given in the flow of FIG.
The print job 6 that has reached the printer driver 3 is cleared.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent a user who has made a print request from inadvertently issuing the same print job two or more times. By preventing the unintended issuance of the print job 6 in this manner,
Printing waste can be eliminated.

If it is not necessary to reconfirm the printing of the print job 6 having the same file name, the user can stop the confirmation of the print job 6 by using the ON / OFF means 13. Can be set to suit your taste. Also, the time setting for issuing the reconfirmation information to the user when a continuous print job is input at what time interval can be set according to the user's preference.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a network printer in which a printer driver according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention is connected to a network, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver.

As shown, in the present embodiment, the printer driver 3 includes a receiving unit 7 for receiving a print job 6 from the application 1, a transmitting unit 12 for transmitting the print job 6 to the printer 4, and a print job 6. Analysis means 8 for analyzing the print information of the print job 6, print information acquisition means 9 for acquiring the print information of the print job 6 analyzed by the analysis means 8, notification means 10 for notifying the print information to the application 1, and analysis means 8. Print job log management means 14 for recording and managing the log of the print job 6 analyzed by
A spell checker 16 that performs spell checking on text information in the print job 6 after receiving a predetermined print job 6 from the same application, and notifies the user of the print information when a spelling error is found by the spell checker 16. A confirmation means 11 for prompting reconfirmation of the confirmation means 11 and an ON / OFF means 13 for setting ON / OFF of the operation of the confirmation means 11 are provided. The spell check is performed with reference to a database 17 in which words for which no spell check is performed are registered. Also, words that are not spell-checked in the database 17 are
Registration is enabled by the user.

Next, the operation of the network printer having the above configuration will be described.

First, a print job 6 is issued by the application 1 in order to print the document created by the application 1 on the printer 4. Then, this print job 6 is sent to the printer driver 3 as shown in FIG.

In the printer driver 3, the transmitted print job 6 is obtained by the print information obtaining means 9. Then, a spell check is performed on the text information in the print job 6 by the spell check unit 16.

As a result of the spell check, for the print job 6 having no spelling error, the print job 6 is transmitted to the printer 4 by the transmission means 12 according to the flow shown in FIG.
Printing is executed. When a spelling error is found, the result is sent to the PC 2 by the notification means 10 in the flow shown in FIG. 5 and is notified to the user through the display device. Then, on the user side, the confirmation unit 11 reconfirms the print information.

The user who has received the print information corrects the print information (or leaves it unchanged if it is determined that the correction is not necessary) and notifies the reply in the flow shown in FIG. When this notification is received by the receiving means 7 of the printer driver 3, the actual print job 6 is transmitted to the printer 4 by the transmitting means 12, as shown by the symbol in FIG.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user who has made a print request is prompted to correct the print job 6 having a misspelling. It is possible to reduce waste.

If the user does not need the spell check function for the print job 6, it turns it on / off means 1.
3, the user can stop the operation, so that a setting suitable for the user's preference can be performed. In order to prevent the spell check function from reacting to a special word such as a person's name, place name, or technical term, a database 17 of spell check non-target words is provided for each printer driver 3 installed in each PC 2. , A more user-friendly environment can be realized.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a network printer in which a printer driver according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention is connected to a network, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver.

As shown, in the present embodiment, the printer driver 3 includes a receiving unit 7 for receiving a print job 6 from the application 1, a transmitting unit 12 for transmitting the print job 6 to the printer 4, and a print job 6. Analysis means 8 for analyzing the print information of the print job 6 and the time at which the print job 6 was sent, and the print job 6 analyzed by the analysis means 8
A print information obtaining unit 9 for obtaining print information of the print job, a notification unit 10 for notifying the print information to the application 1, a print job log management unit 14 for recording and managing a log of the print job 6 analyzed by the analysis unit 8, and A print job storage unit 18 for storing the print job 6 for a predetermined time or a predetermined capacity; and a print job having the same file name as the print job 6 after receiving the predetermined print job 6 from the same application. A difference measuring unit 19 for obtaining a difference between the data of the previous print job 6 stored in the job storing unit 18 and the data of the newly received print job. If no difference is generated by the difference measuring unit 19, the print information is provided to the user. Confirmation means 11 for notifying and prompting reconfirmation, and ON / OFF for setting ON / OFF of the operation of confirmation means 11 And a stage 13. The storage time and storage capacity of the print job 6 stored in the print job storage unit 18 can be freely set by the user.

Next, the operation of the network printer having the above configuration will be described.

First, a print job 6 is issued by the application 1 in order to print the document created by the application 1 on the printer 4. Then, the print job 6 is sent to the printer driver 3 as shown by in FIG.

In the printer driver 3, the sent print job 6 is acquired by the print information acquiring means 9. Then, the analysis unit 8 analyzes the type and file name of the application for the print job 6 and the time at which the print job 6 was sent. The history of the print job 6 already received from the PC 2 is checked against the type and file name of the application checked based on this analysis. The latest print job is searched.

If there is no print job with the same application and the same file name, the print job 6 is transmitted to the printer 4 by the transmission means 12 according to the flow shown in FIG.

If a print job having the same file name exists, the difference measuring means 19 compares the print job with the content of the file of the print job 6 received at present. As a result of the comparison, if a difference occurs between the two, the print job 6 is transmitted by the transmitting unit in the flow shown in FIG.
Is transmitted to the printer 4 and printing is performed. On the other hand, if no difference occurs, the checking unit 1 follows the flow shown in FIG.
1, a request for reconfirmation of the print job is made to the user. Then, the user receiving the reconfirmation request,
A reply as to whether or not to print the print job 6 is notified in the flow of FIG. If the user decides to execute the print job 6, the print job 6 is transmitted to the printer 4 by the transmission means 12 and printed according to the flow shown in FIG. For example, the print job 6 received by the printer driver 3 is cleared.

In such a series of processes, the analysis result of the print job 6 (application type, file Name, print job reception time) and the print job 6 are stored in the print job storage unit 18.
Is stored in

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent a user who has made a print request from inadvertently issuing the same print job two or more times. By preventing the unintended issuance of the print job 6 in this manner,
Printing waste can be eliminated.

If it is not necessary to reconfirm the printing of the print job 6 of the same file, the user turns ON / OF
Since the confirmation of the print job 6 can be stopped by using the F means 13, a setting suitable for the user's preference can be performed. Further, since the user can adjust the capacity of the file stored in the print job storage unit 18 and the time for storing the file, a more user-friendly environment can be realized.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the acceptance of the print job is confirmed by the user who issued the print job, an unintended issuance of the print job can be prevented. The effect is obtained.

According to the present invention, when a print job of the same file from the same application is issued at an interval shorter than the set time, the user is prompted to reconfirm the print information. It is possible to obtain an effective effect that it is possible to prevent the issuance of an unnecessary print job.

Here, if the set time in the time measuring means can be set by the user, the set value of the judgment time for prompting reconfirmation can be freely adjusted, so that the setting suitable for the user's preference can be made. Is obtained.

According to the present invention, a user who has made a print request is prompted to correct a print job having a spelling error. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate printing waste caused by issuing an unintended print job having a spelling error. An effective effect that it becomes possible is obtained.

Here, if the user can register a word for which spell checking is not to be performed, the spell checking function does not work for special words, so that settings that suit the user's preference can be made. That is, an effective effect is obtained.

According to the present invention, when the contents of the print jobs transmitted from the same user match, the user is prompted to reconfirm the print information. Is effective.

Here, if the storage time and storage capacity of the print job stored in the print job storage means can be set by the user, the capacity of the file stored in the print job storage means and the storage capacity are stored. Since the time can be adjusted by the user, it is possible to obtain an effective effect that a setting suitable for the user's preference can be performed.

If the ON / OFF means for setting ON / OFF of the operation of the confirmation means is provided, the confirmation of the print information for the print job can be stopped every time.
An effective effect that a setting suitable for the user's preference can be obtained is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a network printer in which a printer driver according to a first embodiment of the present invention is connected to a network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a network printer in which a printer driver according to a second embodiment of the present invention is connected to a network;

4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a network printer in which a printer driver according to a third embodiment of the present invention is connected to a network.

6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a network printer in which a printer driver according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention is connected to a network.

8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 application 2 personal computer (terminal) 3 printer driver 4 printer 6 print job 7 reception means 8 analysis means 9 print information acquisition means 10 notification means 11 confirmation means 12 transmission means 13 ON / OFF means 14 print job log management means 15 Time measuring means 16 Spell checking means 18 Print job storing means 19 Difference measuring means

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A printer driver for controlling print data between a printer and a terminal, a receiving unit for receiving a print job from an application, a transmitting unit for transmitting the print job to the printer, Analysis means for analyzing print information of the print job; print information acquisition means for acquiring the print information of the print job analyzed by the analysis means; notification means for notifying the print information to the application; A printer driver comprising: a confirmation unit that prompts a user who has requested a print job to reconfirm the print information. 2. A printer driver for controlling print data between a printer and a terminal, a receiving unit for receiving a print job from an application, a transmitting unit for transmitting the print job to the printer, Analyzing means for analyzing print information of the print job and time when the print job is sent; print information obtaining means for obtaining the print information of the print job analyzed by the analyzing means; Notification means for notifying the application; print job log management means for recording and managing a log of the print job analyzed by the analysis means; and a same file as the print job after receiving a predetermined print job from the same application Time measuring means for measuring a time until a print job of the first name is received; The printer driver time measured by the measuring means, characterized in that it comprises a checking means for prompting the reconfirmation notifies the print information to the user by the notification unit when less than the predetermined set time. 3. The printer driver according to claim 2, wherein the set time in said time measuring means can be set by a user. 4. A printer driver for controlling print data between a printer and a terminal, a receiving unit for receiving a print job from an application, a transmitting unit for transmitting the print job to the printer, Analysis means for analyzing print information of the print job; print information acquisition means for acquiring the print information of the print job analyzed by the analysis means; notification means for notifying the print information to the application; A print job log management unit that records and manages the log of the print job analyzed by the analysis unit; and a spell that performs a spell check on text information in the print job after receiving the predetermined print job from the same application. A spelling error was found by the checking means and the spell checking means Notifies the print information to the user in mind printer driver; and a confirming means for prompting the reconfirmation. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein a word for which no spell check is performed can be registered by a user.
The described printer driver. 6. A printer driver for controlling print data between a printer and a terminal, comprising: receiving means for receiving a print job from an application; transmitting means for transmitting the print job to the printer; Analyzing means for analyzing print information of the print job and time when the print job is sent; print information obtaining means for obtaining the print information of the print job analyzed by the analyzing means; Notification means for notifying the application; print job log management means for recording and managing a log of the print job analyzed by the analysis means; print job storage means for storing the print job for a predetermined time or a predetermined capacity; The same as the print job after receiving the predetermined print job from the same application A difference measuring unit for determining a difference between the data of the previous print job stored in the print job storage unit and the data of the newly received print job when a print job with a file name is received; And a confirmation means for notifying the user of the print information and prompting the user to reconfirm the print information when no difference is generated by the means. 7. The printer driver according to claim 6, wherein a storage time and a storage capacity of the print job stored in the print job storage unit can be set by a user. 8. The printer driver according to claim 1, further comprising an ON / OFF means for setting ON / OFF of an operation of said confirmation means.