Patent Application
20060282418
The present invention relates to an output system having a requesting device such as a personal computer for requesting output based on output data and an output device such as a printer for performing output based on the output data in accordance with a request from the requesting device, and an output device used in the output system, and particularly relates to the output system and the output device capable of setting an output format in accordance with a purpose of output.
There is a widely spread print system, in which print data is transmitted to a network printer connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) from a computer, and printing based on the print data is performed by the network printer. For example, in the print system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-75758, a function to set conditions on a printing format based on the print data is added to a printer driver which is executed on the computer side.
However, for example, in a conventional system such as a system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-75758, an individual who uses a computer sets a format respectively. Therefore, for example, in an event such as a meeting in which a plurality of persons submit printed documents respectively, a problem involved therein is that an undesired circumstance is generated, such that formats of documents thus submitted are respectively different. In order to solve the aforesaid problem, the format is reported to each person involved in the event, and each person must set the format following a reported format, respectively. Therefore, there is the problem that entire work processes are increased.
In view of the above-described circumstances, the present invention is provided, and an object of the present invention is to provide an output system capable of easily unifying a documentary form relating to the event without increasing the work processes, and an output device used in the output system. In order to achieve this object, format information showing an output format such as a print format is corresponded to index information such as an event, and is recorded in the output device such as a printer, and output is performed in the output format corresponding to designated index information.
The output system according to the present invention comprises a requesting device requesting output based on output data, and an output device performing output based on the output data in accordance with a request from the requesting device, wherein the requesting device comprises a first communication unit for transmitting the output data to the output device, and the output device comprises a format information database, in which format information showing an output format is recorded, correspondingly to index information; a reception means for receiving designation of index information on received output data; a format extraction means for extracting the format information corresponding to the received index information from the format information database; and an output execution means for performing output based on the output data in the output format shown by the format information.
According to the output system of the present invention, the format information and the index information are corresponded to each other and recorded in the output device, and the output based on the output data is performed by the output format corresponding to the designated index information. Therefore, the format can be easily unified without increasing the work processes.
In the output system of the present invention, the output data corresponds to print data, and the output format includes the documentary form of printing, and the output execution means functions to perform printing based on the print data in the format shown by the format information, and the index information corresponds to information showing the event relating to a printed matter.
According to the output system of the present invention, the format including the documentary form of printing such as a paper size, print color, necessity of both-sides printing, necessity of N-up printing, necessity of a watermark, the number of printed matters, and effective period, is recorded in association with the information showing the event such as a meeting, storage form, and report. Therefore, by only designating the event, a uniform documentary form can be easily set, thus improving workability. In addition, the output format is recorded correspondingly to the event. Therefore, it is not necessary for each user to set the documentary form. Whereby, not only an increase of work processes of each user relating to the event can be suppressed, but also the necessity of reporting the documentary format to each user can be eliminated. Accordingly, entire work processes can be reduced.
In the output system of the present invention, the output device further comprises an index extraction means for extracting at least one piece of index information from the format information database, and a second communication unit for transmitting the pieces of extracted index information to the requesting device, and the requesting device further comprises an output unit for outputting the at least one piece of received index information, and an entry unit for receiving designation of a piece of index information from the at least one piece of outputted index information, and the first communication unit transmits the piece of index information that receives designation to the output device, and the reception means included in the output device receives the piece of inputted index information that receives designation, as the index information.
According to the output system of the present invention, the designation of the index information recorded in the output device can be conveniently performed on a requesting device side.
In the output system of the present invention, the requesting device further comprises means for receiving change of the output format shown by the format information corresponding to the piece of index information that receives designation, and the first communication unit transmits change information that shows the content of the change of the received output format, to the output device, and the output device further comprises means for changing the output format shown by the format information extracted by the format extraction means, to the content of the change of the output format shown by the received change information.
According to the output system of the present invention, the output format can be changed as needed, and therefore the format can be flexibly set.
In the output system of the present invention, plurality of pieces of format information are corresponded to a piece of index information and recorded in the format information database, and possibility of changing the output format is set in each piece of format information.
According to the output system of the present invention, the output format can be flexibly set.
In the output system of the present invention, the requesting means further comprises means for recording a history of the index information that receives designation, and means for determining an output order of received index information based on the history.
According to the output system of the present invention, when the index information designated before is designated, operability is improved.
In the output system of the present invention, the output device further comprises means for receiving a retrieval condition of the index information, and the index extraction means extracts the index information adapted to the retrieval condition.
According to the output system of the present invention, desired index information can be easily searched from the plural pieces of index information.
In the output system of the present invention, the output device further comprises means for extracting the at least one piece of index information from the format information database, and means for outputting the at least one piece of index information thus extracted, and the reception means included in the output device receives designation of a piece of index information from at least one piece of outputted index information.
According to the output system of the present invention, the operability of the output device can be improved.
In the output device of the present invention, the output device that communicates with the requesting device requesting output based on the output data and performs output based on the output data in accordance with the request from the requesting device, comprises a format information database whereby the format information showing the output format is recorded correspondingly to the index information, a communication unit that receives the output data from the requesting device, means for receiving designation of the index information on received output data, means for extracting the format information corresponding to the received index information from the format information database, and means for performing output based on the output data in the output format shown by the extracted format information.
According to the output device of the present invention, the format information is recorded correspondingly to the index information. Then, in the output format corresponding to designated index information, output based on the output data is performed. Therefore, the documentary form can be easily unified, without increasing work processes.
The output system and the output device of the present invention comprise the requesting device that uses a terminal device such as a personal computer requesting output of printed materials or the like based on the output data such as print data, and the output device such as a printer that performs output based on the output data in accordance with the request such as a print request from the requesting device. In the output device, the format information showing the output format including the documentary form of printing such as paper size, print color, necessity of both-sides printing, necessity of N-up printing, necessity of watermark, the number of printed matters, and effective period, is corresponded to the index information showing the event such as a meeting, storage form, and report, and is recorded in the format information database. Then, the user using the requesting device sends the output data to the output device from the requesting device, and designates the index information. Thus, the output device performs output based on the output data in the output format shown by designated index information.
By the structure thus described, according to the present invention, by only designating the index information showing the event, the documentary format (output format) can be easily unified, thus improving workability and exhibiting an excellent effect. In addition, the format information showing the output format is recorded correspondingly to retrieval information showing the event. Therefore, it is not necessary for each user involved in the event to set the documentary format (output format). Accordingly, not only the increase of work processes of each user involved in the event is suppressed, but also the necessity of reporting the documentary format (output format) to each user can be eliminated. Therefore, the excellent effect such as reducing entire work processes is exhibited.
The above and further objects and features of the invention will more fully be apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.
The requesting device 2 comprises a controller 21, a recording unit 22, an entry unit 23 such as a mouse and a keyboard, a display unit (output unit) 24 such as a monitor, and a communication unit 25 for receiving/sending data or information. Programs recorded in the recording unit 22 are basic software (Operating System), applied software such as a word processor software for preparing documents, and a driver program used for controlling and operating peripheral equipment such as an output device 1.
The format information has items such as a paper size, print color, both sides N-up, watermark, and the number of printed matters. The item of the paper size includes data showing a paper standard such as “A4” and “B5”. The item of the print color includes data showing color used in printing such as “full color” and “black and white”. The item of the both sides includes data showing presence or absence of execution of both sides printing such as “effective” and “not available”. The item of the N-up printing includes data showing the presence or absence of the execution of N-up printing that edits a plurality of pages such as “2 up”, “4 up”, and “not available”, so that they are printed in one page. The item of the watermark includes data showing the necessity of the watermark that becomes a background of “top secret”, “for your eyes only”, “none”, etc, and characters when watermarking is performed. The item of the number of printed matters includes data showing the number of printed matters, such as “20” and “15”. When the data of each item shows “following a driver”, it shows that each item is set in the requesting device 2. Also, an attribute of possibility of change by the user is set in the data of each item recorded as the format information.
The effective period information includes data showing start date and completion date whereby date is set or not determined is set.
Next, the processing of each kind of device used in the output system of the present invention will be explained.
By the control of the controller 11, the output device 1 receives the print data at the communication unit 18 (S102). The output device 1 transmits a retrieval condition input request for requesting input of a retrieval condition required for searching the index information recorded in the format information database 12a, to the requesting device 2 from the communication unit 18, via the communication network 100 (S103). The print data received in the step S102 is temporarily recorded in the recording unit 12.
By the control of the controller 21, the requesting device 2 receives the retrieval condition input request at the communication unit 25 (S104), and displays (outputs) the image based on the received retrieval condition input request, on the display unit (output unit) 17 (S105).
When explanation is returned to the flowcharts shown in
By the control of the controller 11, the output device 1 receives (inputs) the retrieval condition at the communication unit 18 (S108), and determines whether or not the index information matching the received retrieval condition is recorded in the format information database 12a (S109).
In the step S109, when the output device 1 determines that the index information matching the retrieval condition is not recorded in the format information database 12a (S109: NO), by the control of the controller 11, the processing is returned to the step S103, and the output device 1 repeats continual processing after the processing of transmitting the retrieval condition input request.
In the step S109, when the output device 1 determines that the index information matching the retrieval condition is recorded in the format information database 12a (S109: YES), by the control of the controller 11, the output device 1 extracts one or a plurality of pieces of index information matching the retrieval condition, from the format information database 12a (S110), and transmits the extracted index information to the requesting device 2 from the communication unit 18 via the communication network 100 (S111). The retrieval processing of steps S103 to S1110 is not necessarily required. When few pieces of index information are recorded in the format information database 12a, for example, all pieces of index information may be extracted from the format information database 12a and transmitted.
By the control of the controller 21, the requesting device 2 receives the index information at the communication unit 25 (S112), and determines the output order of the received index information based on a recorded history (S113). Then, the image showing a list of the index information rearranged based on the determined output order is displayed on the display unit 17 (S114). The index information displayed on the display unit 17 is the list for designating the index information desired by the user, and the recorded history is the history designated by past index information.
Hereafter, explanation will be given to the processing which is performed when the index information is designated from the image shown in
By the control of the controller 11, the output device 1 receives (inputs) the designated index information at the communication unit 18 (S117), and extracts the format information recorded correspondingly to the received index information from the format information database 12a (S118). The image based on the print data is formed by the image forming unit 13 in the output format shown by the format information thus extracted, and the output (print) of the image thus formed is performed by the printing unit 14 (S119). Note that the outputted print data corresponds to the print data (output data) received in the step S102 and temporarily recorded in the recording unit 12.
Next, the processing when the data of the format information is changed by the user will be explained.
By the control of the controller 11, the output device 1 receives (inputs) the index information and change information at the communication unit 18 (S204); and extracts the format information recorded correspondingly to the received index information, from the format information database 12a (S205). The output format shown by the extracted format information is changed to the content of the change shown by the change information (S206), and the image based on the print data is formed by the image forming unit 13 in the output format hereby the content is changed, and the output (print) of the image thus formed is performed by the printing unit 14 (S207).
Note that it is also possible that the designation of the format information is not inputted to the requesting device 2, but directly inputted to the output device 1.
Next, other embodiments of directly inputting the designation of the format information in the output device 1 will be explained.
By the control of the controller 11, the output device 1 receives the print data at the communication unit 18 (S302), and extracts the list of the index information from the format information database 12a (S303), and outputs (displays) the extracted index information from the display unit 17 (S304). The user performs input of designating the desired index information from the index information displayed on the display unit 17.
By the control of the controller 11, the output device 1 receives the designation of the index information from the operation reception unit 16 (S305), and extracts the format information recorded correspondingly to the received index information, from the format information database 12a (S306). The image based on the print data is formed by the image forming unit 13, in the output format shown by the extracted format information, and the output of the image thus formed is performed by the printing unit 14 (S307). The retrieval processing may also be performed in an embodiment directly receiving the designation of the index information by the output device 1.
In the embodiments as described above, the output data corresponds to the print data, and printing is performed as the output based on the print data. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, various variants can be developed, such that the output data is the data for facsimile, and facsimile transmission is carried out as the output based on the output data.
As this invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit of essential characteristics thereof, the present embodiments are therefore illustrative and not restrictive, since the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by description preceding them, and all changes that fall within metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds thereof are therefore intended to be embraced by the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-169969 | Jun 2005 | JP | national |
This Nonprovisional Application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No. 2005-169969 in Japan on Jun. 9, 2005, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
