JPH11316672A - Internet print system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To directly obtain and print various resources on the Internet on a printer side, thereby simplifying the work from extracting print information to print output and improving the work efficiency. SOLUTION: In an Internet print system which is connected to a TCP / IP communication network 120 for performing network communication according to a predetermined communication protocol, extracts various resources (HTML) distributed on the network, and executes printing, a user receives the request from a user. A print driver unit 102 for inputting access information (URL) for specifying a specified resource (HTML) to be printed and executing print control, and transmitting a resource (HTML) specified by the access information (URL) to TCP / Resource acquired from the IP communication network 120 and the acquired resource (HTML)
Printer 107 that develops an image of the image and prints it on recording paper
And

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to, for example, TCP (T
transmission Control Proto
col) / IP (Internet Protocol)
l) Directly connected to the network based on the protocol, and from the network, HTML (HyperText)
A Markup Language (URL) file is a URL (Uniform Reso) which is one of the access information.
source Locator), an Internet print system that specifies and acquires the data, and prints out the data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to retrieve and print various resources (documents and images, etc.) on the Internet, a host computer (terminal device) such as a personal computer or a workstation is connected to the Internet, and the host computer uses the host computer. The procedure of taking out the resource, displaying the resource, and printing the displayed data has been adopted.

[0003] As a reference technical document, for example, a "document storage device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-231022 is disclosed. Here, the documents on the Internet are provided to the user before printing according to the browsing request (print preview).
In particular, browse data and print data are prepared in advance to provide users with high quality printing while browsing the print images of electronic documents stored in devices on networks such as the Internet at high speed. For example, the printing is speeded up by a method such as preservation.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, when resources such as document information and image information distributed on the Internet are acquired and printed, the resources are temporarily set. Since many steps of extracting and displaying information to be printed on a host computer (terminal device) and printing the displayed information are performed, the workload of the operator is large, and as a result, the work efficiency is reduced. Was.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and by directly acquiring and printing various resources on the Internet on a printer side, the operation from print information extraction to print output is simplified. The purpose is to improve work efficiency.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an Internet print system according to the first aspect is connected to a network that performs network communication according to a predetermined communication protocol, and is distributed over the network. Print control means for inputting access information for specifying a resource to be printed specified by a user and executing print control in an Internet print system for performing printing by taking out various types of resources being executed; Printing means for acquiring a resource specified by the access information supplied from the network from the network, developing the acquired resource as an image, and printing the resource on recording paper.

Further, in the Internet print system according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is connected to a network that performs network communication in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol, extracts various resources distributed on the network, and executes printing. In an Internet print system, after inputting and setting access information for specifying a resource to be printed specified by a user, inputting the number of layers at the link destination level of the resource, and executing print control, The resource specified by the access information supplied from the print control unit and the access information of another resource linked from the specified resource are acquired, and the next lower level specified by the access information is obtained. Obtaining the link destination resource from the network, The obtained resource and image development, in which and a printing means for printing on recording paper.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the Internet print system is connected to a network for performing network communication in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol, extracts various resources distributed on the network, and executes printing. In the Internet print system, after inputting and setting access information for specifying a resource to be printed and a printing execution date and time specified by a user, inputting the number of levels at the link destination level of the resource and performing printing control A control unit that, when the print execution date and time supplied from the print control unit has been reached, acquires the resource specified by the access information and the access information of another resource linked from the specified resource. , One step lower level specified by the access information Get link destination resources from the network, the acquired resources and image development, in which and a printing means for printing on recording paper.

Further, in the Internet print system according to a fourth aspect, the printing means includes an access information analysis means for analyzing the access information supplied from the print control means, and an analysis of the access information analysis means. Internet control means for identifying a resource based on information and acquiring the resource from the network, acquired data storage means for saving the resource acquired by the Internet control means, and resources acquired by the acquired data storage means. Data expanding means for expanding the image data into image data; a frame buffer for storing the image data expanded by the data expanding means; printing means for printing the image data sent from the frame buffer on recording paper based on a print control signal; , Is provided.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an Internet print system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(System Configuration) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an Internet print system according to an embodiment. This shows the configuration of the entire printing system.
Further, the flow of data and control signals from the time when HTML data is searched using the designated URL in the setting of the Internet print mode, taken out from the Internet, and the completion of printing / discharging is shown.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes an application; 102, a print driver unit as print control means;
Numeral 03 denotes a printing device as a printing means described later, 104
Denotes an input control panel (for example, a terminal device such as a personal computer / workstation) for setting an Internet print mode, and 105 denotes a print result.

The printing apparatus 103 includes a print control data analysis unit 106, a print control data development unit 107, a URL analysis unit 108 as access information analysis means, a frame buffer 109, and an HTML as acquisition data storage means.
A storage unit 110, an Internet control unit 111 as Internet control means, and H as data development means
TML development unit 112 and engine unit 1 as printing means
13 and an engine control unit 114.

A print control data analysis unit 106 prints print control data sent from the print driver unit 102,
(Hyper Text Markup Langua
ge: URL (Unifo) of the document description language for WWW
rm Resource Locator: a notation method for uniquely specifying the storage location of information resources such as files distributed on the Internet) Analyzing data, Internet print mode settings, etc., and performing normal print processing or data from the Internet Print processing.

The print control data expanding section 107 expands the print control data supplied from the print control data analyzing section 106. The URL analysis unit 108 analyzes the contents of the URL supplied from the print control data analysis unit 106 and transmits the URL to the Internet control unit 111. Frame buffer 10
Reference numeral 9 denotes print data developed by the print control data development unit 107 or HT developed by the HTML development unit 112.
Image development of ML data.

The HTML storage unit 110 stores the HTML data extracted by the Internet control unit 111.
The Internet control unit 111, for example,
announcement Control Protocol
ol) / IP (Internet Protocol)
HTML data is extracted from the network that performs network communication according to the protocol, and is stored in the HTML storage unit 11.
Store at 0. The HTML development unit 112 develops the HTML data stored in the HTML storage unit 110 into an image in the frame buffer 109.

The engine unit 113 performs optical writing by, for example, optical modulation according to a print image by a laser optical system, and forms an image by an electrophotographic method. The engine control unit 114 provides a control signal such as a print instruction to the engine unit 113.

That is, the printing apparatus 103 is a wide-area database resource (W) distributed on the Internet / intranet (TCP / IP communication network 120).
Browse data in a language such as HTML specified by a URL, which is one of the access information on the WW server. For this reason, HTTP (Hypertext Tra)
an Internet control unit 111 for realizing a browser function including an nsfer Protocol (client) client function, and converts an HTML to be printed specified by a URL given from the input control panel 104 into an Internet / intranet (TCP / IP communication network 1).
20) The data is extracted from the top, the data is developed into image data, and printing is performed by the engine unit 113.

(Operation Example 1) Next, an operation example of the Internet print system configured as described above will be described. Here, for example, a resource (information such as HTML) used in WWW or the like participating in the Internet is simply subjected to print instruction and print execution by designating access information (URL).

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example 1 of the Internet print system according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a processing example in the Internet print mode.

In the figure, first, when the operator prints out data on the Internet, an Internet print mode is set using the input control panel 104 controlled by the print driver unit 102 (S201). Subsequently, it is determined whether the print mode is the Internet print mode (S202). If it is determined that the print mode is the Internet print mode, the user inputs HTML URL data (S203).

Next, the HTML data is acquired by the Internet control unit 111 via the Internet (TCP / IP communication network 120) (S20).
4). Subsequently, the acquired HTML data is image-developed in the frame buffer 109 (S205), the image developed in the frame buffer 109 is supplied to the engine unit 113, and is printed on recording paper via the engine control unit 114 (S206).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S202 that the print mode is not the Internet print mode, the print data transmitted from the print driver unit 102 is expanded in the frame buffer 109 as in normal printing (S20).
7) The image developed in the frame buffer 109 is supplied to the engine unit 113, and is printed on recording paper via the engine control unit 114 (S206).

That is, when the Internet print mode is set on the input control panel 104, the operator specifies the URL of the HTML to be printed. Also,
Since the printing apparatus 103 is directly connected to the Internet by a LAN (TCP / IP communication network 120), the URL of the HTML data is extracted by the Internet control unit 111 via this network and stored in the HTML storage unit 110. The HTML data extracted in this manner is developed in the frame buffer 109 by the HTML developing unit 112, and printing / discharge is performed.

By handling the HTML URL as control data as described above, it is possible to develop and print the HTML data by an easy method of simply specifying the URL. In particular, the personal computer sends the HTML to be printed as print data to the printer, and the printer connected to the Internet analyzes the specified URL, specifies and acquires the HTML corresponding to the URL, and prints it. Various resources (documents, images, and the like) on the Internet can be easily obtained and printed, and the operation burden on the user can be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of a series of operations.

(Operation Example 2) In this operation example 2, by specifying the hierarchical level of the linked resource by the resource (information such as HTML) in the above, the Internet including the linked resource can be easily included. An example of acquiring and printing from above will be described.

For example, in the second operation example, a document created in HTML is composed of a non-continuously viewable hypertext having a plurality of link destinations, and information of those link destinations is also required. Consider the case.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example 2 of the Internet print system according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a processing example when a link level is designated in the Internet print mode.

In FIG. 3, first, when the operator prints out data on the Internet, the operator uses the input control panel 104 controlled by the print driver unit 102, and
An Internet print mode is set (S301). Next, it is determined whether the print mode is the Internet print mode (S302). If it is determined that the print mode is the Internet print mode, the user inputs HTML URL data (S303).

Next, an HTML link level is input (S304). Subsequently, the Internet control unit 111
Allows HTML data to be transmitted over the Internet (TCP / I
Via the P communication network 120) (S3)
05). Next, the acquired HTML data is image-developed in the frame buffer 109 (S306). Next, it is determined whether the link level is 0 (S307).

Here, if the link level is not 0, the process returns to step S305. On the other hand, if the link level is 0, the image developed in the frame buffer 109 is supplied to the engine unit 113, and is transmitted via the engine control unit 114. Printing is performed on recording paper (S308).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S302 that the print mode is not the Internet print mode, the print data transmitted from the print driver unit 102 is expanded in the frame buffer 109 in the same manner as in normal printing (S30).
9) The image developed in the frame buffer 109 is supplied to the engine unit 113 via the engine control unit 114, and is printed on recording paper.

That is, in the second operation example, the Internet print mode is set by the Internet print mode setting of the print driver unit 102. Then, by inputting the number of layers of the specified HTML link destination level after setting the URL, it is possible to acquire the URL of another HTML linked from the specified HTML.

As a result, the designated HTML is acquired by the Internet control unit 111 and stored in the HTML storage unit 110, and then the HTML data is transmitted to the URL again.
The analysis unit 108 extracts the URL included in the HTML, and acquires the obtained one-level lower-level link destination HTM.
L is stored in the HTML storage unit 110.

After tracing down the lower hierarchy by the specified link destination level, the HTML storage unit 1
The HTML stored in the HTML expansion unit 112
The image data is developed in the frame buffer 109 to perform printing / discharge.

Therefore, by designating a certain URL and a link level, it is possible to easily extract and print a lot of information linked before the HTML. In other words, it is possible to omit a complicated work such as issuing a print instruction of a lower level hierarchy after confirming an HTML print result, thereby reducing a user's work load.

(Operation Example 3) In this operation example 3, the date and time of the HTML print execution specified in the above-mentioned operation example 2 is specified as a part of the print data, and the clock that the printing apparatus 107 has inside When a specified date and time is reached using the function, a print reservation function is provided so that the HTML is searched and printed.
An example of taking out and printing will be described.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example 3 of the Internet print system according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a processing example when a link level and a date and time are designated in the Internet print mode.

In FIG. 4, first, when the operator prints out data on the Internet, the operator uses an input control panel 104 controlled by the print driver unit 102, and
The Internet print mode is set (S401). Subsequently, it is determined whether the print mode is the Internet print mode (S402). If it is determined that the print mode is the Internet print mode, the user inputs HTML URL data (S403).

Next, the user inputs the HTML link level (S404), and further inputs the print execution date and time (S4).
05). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not it is the print execution date and time (S406). Here, if it is determined that the print execution date / time has been reached, the Internet
Data is obtained via the Internet (TCP / IP communication network 120) (S407). continue,
The acquired HTML data is image-developed in the frame buffer 109 (S408). Then the link level is 0
Is determined (S409).

If the link level is not 0, the process returns to step S407. If the link level is 0, on the other hand, the image developed in the frame buffer 109 is supplied to the engine unit 113, and is sent to the engine control unit 114 via the engine control unit 114. Printing is performed on recording paper (S410).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S402 that the print mode is not the Internet print mode, the print data transmitted from the print driver unit 102 is expanded in the frame buffer 109 as in normal printing (S41).
1) The image developed in the frame buffer 109 is supplied to the engine unit 113 and printed on a recording sheet via the engine control unit 114.

That is, in the third operation example, the Internet print mode is set by the Internet print mode setting of the print driver unit 102. Then, a URL is set, the number of layers at the link destination level of the URL and the HTML is input, and a print execution date and time are specified.

Thus, the Internet control unit 111
Then, the print execution date and time are always checked, and when the designated date and time is reached, the HTML is acquired using the designated URL and stored in the HTML storage unit 110, and the same method as in the operation example 2 described above is used. The HTML is stored in the HTML storage unit 110 by following the lower hierarchy by the designated link destination level. In this way, the stored HTML is developed into a frame buffer by the HTML developing unit 112, and printing and discharging are performed.

Therefore, by specifying a certain URL, a link level, and a print execution date and time, a large amount of information linked at the end of the HTML can be converted into, for example, a time zone when the network is not congested or a fixed time. By setting the date and time so as to retrieve the information, information updated at a fixed time every day, such as a newspaper, can be reliably and easily retrieved and printed. In addition, by avoiding the time of congestion, access can be made economically because communication costs are saved.

[0046]

As described above, according to the Internet print system according to the present invention (claim 1), for example, resources (information such as HTML) used in WWW or the like participating in the Internet can be used. A print instruction and print execution are easily performed by designating access information (URL). In particular, a resource (HTML) to be printed is sent from a personal computer to a printer as print data, and a printer connected to the Internet is used. The specified access information (URL) is analyzed, and the resource (HTM) corresponding to the access information (URL) is analyzed.
L) is specified and obtained and printed, so that various resources (documents and images, etc.) on the Internet can be easily obtained and printed, the operation burden on the user is reduced, and the instruction of the resources to be printed is generally The efficiency of a series of operations such as acquisition and printing is improved.

According to the Internet print system of the present invention (claim 2), by specifying the hierarchical level of the destination resource linked by the resource (information such as HTML) in claim 1 described above. It is intended to easily obtain and print from the Internet, including the resources of linked destinations. For example, a document created in HTML is composed of a non-continuously viewable hypertext having a plurality of linked destinations, In consideration of the case where such link destination information is also necessary, taking out and printing the information, the complicated work of confirming the HTML print result and giving a print instruction of a lower level hierarchy after the print result is omitted. Work load is greatly reduced.

According to the Internet print system of the present invention (claim 3), the date and time of the HTML print execution specified in claim 2 is specified as a part of the print data, and When the specified date and time is reached using the clock function of
By providing a print reservation function to search and print the ML, for example, it is possible to take out the HTML at midnight and print it out. In addition, acquisition and printing can be performed even when the user is not present, and the convenience and work efficiency are improved. In addition, communication costs and the like can be reduced by performing access while avoiding congestion.

According to the Internet print system of the present invention (claim 4), in any one of claims 1 to 3, the print means analyzes the access information supplied from the print control means. Access information analyzing means for identifying, a resource based on analysis information of the access information analyzing means, an internet control means for acquiring the resource from the network, an acquired data storage means for saving the resource acquired by the internet control means, A data expansion unit for expanding the resources stored by the acquired data storage unit into image data; a frame buffer for storing the image data expanded by the data expansion unit; and image data transmitted from the frame buffer based on a print control signal. Printing means for printing on recording paper. And, the access information resources that are used (information such as HTML) specified by the user in the WWW, such as participating in the Internet (UR
L), and the resources (information such as HTML) can be printed on recording paper at a required level and timing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an Internet print system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example 1 of the Internet print system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example 2 of the Internet print system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example 3 of the Internet print system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 102 print driver unit 103 printing device 104 input control panel 106 print control data analysis unit 108 URL analysis unit 109 frame buffer 110 HTML storage unit 111 internet control unit 112 HTML development unit 113 engine unit 114 engine control unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An Internet print system connected to a network for performing network communication according to a predetermined communication protocol, extracting various resources distributed on the network, and executing printing.
Print control means for inputting access information for specifying a resource to be printed specified by a user and executing print control, and acquiring from the network the resource specified by the access information supplied from the print control means And a printing means for developing the acquired resource into an image and printing it on recording paper. 2. An Internet print system which is connected to a network for performing network communication according to a predetermined communication protocol, extracts various resources distributed on the network, and executes printing.
After inputting and setting access information for specifying a resource to be printed specified by a user, inputting the number of levels at the link destination level of the resource, and executing print control; The access information of the resource specified by the supplied access information and the access information of another resource linked from the specified resource is obtained, and the resource at the next lower-level link specified by the access information is obtained. An internet print system comprising: a printing unit that obtains from the network, develops the obtained resource into an image, and prints the obtained resource on recording paper. 3. An Internet print system which is connected to a network for performing network communication according to a predetermined communication protocol, extracts various resources distributed on the network, and executes printing.
Print control means for inputting and setting access information for specifying a print target resource specified by a user and a print execution date and time, inputting the number of levels at the link destination level of the resource, and executing print control; When the printing execution date and time supplied from the printing control unit has been reached, the resource specified by the access information and the access information of another resource linked from the specified resource are obtained, and the access information is acquired. An internet print system comprising: a print unit that obtains a specified one-level lower-level link destination resource from the network, develops the obtained resource into an image, and prints the obtained resource on recording paper. 4. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit specifies an access information analyzing unit that analyzes the access information supplied from the printing control unit, and specifies a resource based on the analysis information of the access information analyzing unit. Internet control means for acquiring from the network, acquired data saving means for saving the resources acquired by the Internet control means, data expanding means for expanding the resources saved by the acquired data saving means into image data, and the data expanding means A frame buffer for storing the image data expanded by the means, and printing means for printing the image data sent from the frame buffer on recording paper based on a print control signal. Internet print system according to any one of 3. Tem.