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US 6,348,971 B2Granted
Printing system and printing method for selecting an optimum printing for printing
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsMasahiro Owa, Susumu Shiohara, Hikonosuke Uwai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printer selection device selects an optimum printer for printing a document based on user information indicating such conditions as print commands and specifications, and based on printer information concerning print environments of the printers and causes the optimum printer to print the document. An optimum printer can be selected for each document, or each page of a document.
Claims48
A printing system comprising:
- a plurality of printers;
- a host computer for selectively driving said plurality of printers;
- user information retention means for retaining user information concerning print data preset by a user before initiation of a printing operation, wherein said user information relates to general print preferences of the user independent of a particular print job;
- printer information retention means for retaining printer information concerning print environments of said plurality of printers, wherein said printer information includes status information comprising printing state, power saving state, error state, data amount waiting for print, paper size, paper type, remaining paper amount, remaining toner amount, and remaining ink amount, indicating a status of said plurality of printers;
- and
- printer selection means for selecting a printer from among said plurality of printers based on the user information retained in said user information retention means and the printer information retained in said printer information retention means and controlling said host computer so as to drive the selected printers.
3 more elements
A print data generation system comprising:
- printer control means that can selectively drive a plurality of printers;
- user information retention means for retaining user information concerning print data preset by a user before initiation of a printing operation, wherein said user information relates to general print preferences of the user independent of a particular print job;
- printer information retention means for retaining printer information concerning print environments of said plurality of printers, wherein said printer information includes status information comprising printing state, power saving state, error state, data amount waiting for print, paper size, paper type, remaining paper amount, remaining toner amount, and remaining ink amount, indicating a status of said plurality of printers;
- and
- printer selection means for selecting a printer suitable for printing from among said plurality of printers based on the user information retained in said user information retention means and the printer information retained in said printer information retention means,
- wherein said printer control means drives the printer selected by said printer selection means.
3 more elements
A printing method comprising the steps of:
- obtaining user information concerning print data set by a user, wherein the user information is preset by the user and at least a portion of the user information is independent of a print job;
- obtaining printer information concerning print environments of a plurality of printers, wherein said printer information includes status information comprising printing state, power saving state, error state, data amount waiting for print, paper size, paper type, remaining paper amount, remaining toner amount, and remaining ink amount, indicating a status of said plurality of printers;
- selecting a printer suitable for printing from among said plurality of printers based on the user information and the printer information;
- generating print data responsive to the selected printer;
- and
- transmitting the generated print data to the selected printer.
3 more elements
A printing method comprising the steps of:
- obtaining a user print condition and user information concerning print data set by a user, wherein the user information is preset by the user and at least a portion of the user information is independent of a print job;
- obtaining a printer selection condition set by the user;
- obtaining printer information concerning print environments of a plurality of printers, wherein said printer information includes status information comprising printing state, power saving state, error state, data amount waiting for print, paper size, paper type, remaining paper amount, remaining toner amount, and remaining ink amount, indicating a status of said plurality of printers;
- selecting a printer suitable for printing from among said plurality of printers having basic information that can satisfy the user print condition and the printer selection condition;
- generating print data responsive to the selected printer;
- and
- transmitting the generated print data to the selected printer.
4 more elements
A recording medium recording a program for a computer comprising:
- a user information retention function of retaining user information concerning print data set by a user, wherein the user information is preset by the user and at least a portion of the user information is independent of a print job;
- a printer information retention function of retaining printer information concerning print environments of a plurality of printers, wherein said printer information includes status information comprising printing state, power saving state, error state, data amount waiting for print, paper size, paper type, remaining paper amount, remaining toner amount, and remaining ink amount, indicating a status of said plurality of printers;
- a printer selection function of selecting a printer suitable for printing from among said plurality of printers based on the user information retained in said user information retention function and the printer information retained in said printer information retention function;
- and
- a printer control function of driving the printer selected by said printer selection function in a format that is read and understood by said computer.
2 more elements
A printer driver comprising:
- a controller that can selectively drive a plurality of printers;
- a first memory for retaining user information concerning print data set by a user, wherein the user information is preset by the user and at least a portion of the user information is independent of a print job;
- a second memory for retaining printer information concerning print environments of said plurality of printers, wherein said printer information includes status information comprising printing state, power saving state, error state, data amount waiting for print, paper size, paper type, remaining paper amount, remaining toner amount, and remaining ink amount, indicating a status of said plurality of printers;
- and
- a selector for selecting a printer having the printer information that can satisfy the user information from among said plurality of printers based on the user information retained in said first memory and the printer information retained in said second memory, wherein
- said controller transmits print data to the selected printer and drives the selected printer.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.