CN1242545A - Computer system for printing HTML document - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a printing system which mitigates processing on a user-side computer when an acquired HTML document is printed. In this printing system wherein the user-side computer 18, a computer 20 having an HTML document 42, and a printer 17 which prints the HTML document 42 are so connected as to communicate with one another, document acquiring means (12 and 13) which obtain the HTML document 42 from the computer 20 at a request from the computer 18 are arranged on the printer 17. Consequently, when the obtained HTML document is printed, the processing on the user-side computer can be mitigated.

Description

Computer system for printing hypertext markup language documents

The present invention relates to a computer system for printing HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) documents, and more particularly to a computer system including a printing device capable of reducing processing time and burden for a client.

Printer systems having functions for printing hypertext documents (eg, hypertext markup language documents) are increasingly used in computer systems. In such a printing device, when hypertext documents associated by a plurality of hyperlink layers are to be printed, target hypertext documents are first displayed in a window of a display device of a client computer, and sequentially printed by using a print command.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional printing apparatus includes a plurality of client computers comprising client computer 18, a server computer 20 for storing hypertext markup language documents 42 to be printed, and a hypertext file specified by client computer 18 for printing. Printers 23 for documents in the logo language, all of which are interconnected via a network 24 for data transfer.

The service computer 20 includes an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) server 41 and stores a Hypertext Markup Language document 42 . The term "HTTP" refers to the transport protocol commonly used to access web addresses. The client computer 18 includes an HTML browser 21 for accessing the home page of the website. The printer 23 includes a network interface 16 for connecting the printer 23 to the network 24, a printer language program 14 for translating documents according to the printer language to produce printer language data, and a A printer engine that prints documents.

In the conventional printing apparatus described above, the client computer 18 designates a desired HTML document 42 on the Internet by using the HTML browser 21 to display the HTML document 42 on its display device. The client computer 18 then selects a print command on the HTML browser 21, designates the printer 23 of the plurality of printers, and converts the HTML document 42 into Printer language data.

When the client computer 18 is working to process the printing of the HTML document 42, this task is taxing on the client computer 18 and consumes a significant amount of time. In addition, the printing language depends on the model or manufacturer of the printer, and the conversion from the HTML document to the printer language depends on the operating system of the client computer 18 . Therefore, the client computer must have a conversion module that works on its operating system and depends on the model or manufacturer of the printer.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a computer system with a printing device which can reduce the load on a client computer and can dispense with a conversion module for converting an HTML document into printer language data.

The present invention provides a printer system including a service computer for storing a hypertext markup language document having its uniform resource locator (URL), a client having a function for specifying the URL of the hypertext markup language document A computer, and a printing device for printing according to a printing language, all interconnected by a network for data transmission, the printing device including a hypertext identifier for receiving from a service computer according to a uniform resource locator specified by the client computer The document reception section of the language document.

According to the computer system of the present invention, by providing in the printer a document receiving portion that can receive a hypertext markup language document specified by a client computer from a service computer without the help of the client computer, the burden on the client computer can be reduced, and the client computer The processing time can be reduced.

The above objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in the following description referring to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a conventional computer system for printing HTML documents.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a computer system including a printing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the HTML converter shown in FIG. 1 .

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a computer system including a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart of a computer system including a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like constituent parts or like steps are marked with like reference numerals.

Referring to Fig. 2, the computer system comprising the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of client computers comprising the specific client computer 18 shown in the figure, a plurality of client computers having a function for printing hypertext markup language A printer of a specific printer 17, a printer auxiliary server for assisting the function of the printer 17, a service computer 20 for storing a plurality of HTML documents including a specific HTML document 42, and they are all connected by a network 22 .

For example, some of the client computers including a particular client computer 18, some of the printers including a particular printer 17, and a single printer-assisted server 19 are placed in separate areas (e.g., in a single company or building), while multiple including service The service computer of the computer 20 is placed outside the area.

The client computer 18 has an HTML browser 21 for reading out an HTML document 42 stored in the service computer 20 as a WWW (World Wide Web) home page. The printer auxiliary server 19 includes a hypertext transfer protocol server 31 and an object converter 32 for converting a specific object into bitmap data that the printer 17 can print. The service computer 20 includes an HTTP server 21 and stores a hypertext markup language document 42 which is printed according to an instruction from the client computer 18 .

The printer 17 includes an HTTP server 11 , a URL register 12 , an HTML converter 13 , a printer language program 14 , a printer engine 15 , and a network interface 16 .

The HTTP server 11 communicates with the HTML browser 21 of the client computer 18 through the network interface 16 and the network 22 . The URL register 12 receives the URL of the HTML document 42 specified for printing by the client computer 18 and from the HTML browser 21 of the client computer 18 via the HTTP server 11 and the network interface 16 .

The HTML converter 13 communicates with the HTTP server 41 of the service computer 20 through the network interface 16 and the network according to the URL stored in the URL register 12, receives the HTML document 42 for printing having the URL stored in the URL register 12, and Convert it to printer language data. When the HTML converter 13 finds that the HTML document 42 is accompanied by an embedded object that cannot be converted on its platform, the HTML converter 13 communicates with the object converter 32 through the HTTP server 31, and requests the object converter 32 to convert the embedded object Embedded objects are converted to bitmap data.

The printer language program 14 further converts the HTML document determined by the printer language and received from the HTML converter 13 into print data including character and image data. The printer engine 15 executes printing of the HTML document 42 based on image or character data received from the printer language program 14 .

The client computer 18 communicates with the printer 17 through the HTTP server 11 using the HTML browser 21 . After the URL register is accessed by the HTML browser 21 through the HTTP server 11, the client computer 18 specifies the URL of the HTML document 42 in the URL register 12. Accordingly, the HTML converter 13 communicates with the HTTP server 41 of the service computer 20 based on the URL of the HTML document 42 stored in the URL register 12 and receives data of the HTML document 42 . The HTML converter 13 converts character or bitmap data of the HTML document 42 into printer language data for use in the printer 17 and transmits the converted data to the printer language program 14 .

In this embodiment, the URL register 12 and the HTML converter 13 constitute a document receiving section for receiving a specified HTML document 42 from the service computer 20 according to a request from the client computer 18 .

At work, the user operates the client computer 18 to start communication between the client computer 18 and the HTTP server 11 in the printer 17, and accesses the "print by URL instruction" web page of the URL register 12 according to the hyperlink of the HTTP server 11. Thus, the URL register 12 provides a blank form of "instruction to print by URL" in HTML format through the HTTP server 11 for receiving a request from the client server 18. The client computer 18 then requests the printer 17 to print the HTML document 42 including the embedded object by specifying the URL of the HTML document 42 in the URL register 12 .

The URL of the desired HTML document 42 is sent to the HTML converter 13 via the URL register 12 .

Referring to FIG. 3 showing a flowchart of the operation of the HTML converter 13, the HTML converter 13 receives an HTML document 42 having a URL specified by a user from the service computer 20 through the HTTP server 41 and the network 22 at step S100. Then, the HTML converter 13 compresses the HTML document 42 into various HTML constituent elements including characters possibly including control codes, bitmap data, and embedded objects in step S101. In step S102, the categories are checked to judge whether each element is character or bitmap data that can be converted into the printer language used in the printer 17 on its platform.

If it is judged in step S102 that the element is character or bitmap data, the HTML converter 13 converts the element into printer language data in step S103. On the other hand, if it is judged in step S102 that this element is not character or bitmap data, that is, this element is an inline object, then the HTML converter passes through network interface 16 and network 22 and printer auxiliary server 19 in step S200 The object converter 32 communicates and requests the object converter 32 to convert the embedded object into bitmap data.

If the result of determination in step S201 after step S200 is that the embedded object is successfully converted into bitmap data, the process proceeds to step S103, wherein the embedded object is further converted into printer language data. If it is judged in step S201 that the embedded object is not converted into bitmap data, the HTML converter 13 generates dummy bitmap data instead of the embedded object data. In step S104, if all elements in the entire HTML document have not passed through the above steps, the process returns to step S101 for other remaining elements.

The HTML converter 13 converts all constituent elements in the entire HTML document 42 into printer language data with or without dummy data, and the printer language program 14 converts the printer language data into print data that the printer engine 15 can process. Accordingly, the printer 17 prints the HTML document 42 specified by the client computer 18 without any assistance from the client computer 18 . Images for embedded objects that cannot be converted to bitmap data are replaced by dummy data images.

Referring to FIG. 4, the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention is similar to the first embodiment, except that the HTML document 42 designated by the user represents a plurality of HTML documents interrelated with the HTML document 42 through a plurality of hyperlink layers therein .

In an operation where the user requests the printer to print the document, the URL register 12 receives the URL of the HTML document 42 specified by the user and a limited number of hyperlink layers traced back from the HTML document 42 via the HTTP server 11 and the network 22 .

The HTML converter 13 receives the HTML document 42 from the service computer 20 based on the URL of the HTML document 42 and a limited number of hyperlink levels stored in the URL register 12 . Then, the HTML converter 13 converts the received HTML document 42 into printer language data for each component. If the HTML converter 13 judges that the HTML document 42 has an embedded object that the HTML converter 13 cannot convert on its platform, the HTML converter 13 communicates with the object converter 32 through the HTTP server 31 of the printer auxiliary server 19, and Object converter 32 is requested to convert the embedded object. Then, the HTML converter 13 receives all URLs of the HTML document according to the hyperlinks embedded in the HTML document 42, and detects the number of layers of the hyperlinks in the HTML document. If the number of layers for an HTML document is not higher than the limit specified by the user, the HTML converter 13 cyclically converts the HTML document separated from other HTML documents into printer language data. The printer language program 14 converts printer language data into print data. For example image or character data. Then, the printer engine 15 prints the data on the recording sheet.

In operation, URL registry 12 sends HTML mail to HTML browser 21 upon receipt of a request from client computer 18 . The HTML mail is a blank form for specifying the URL of the HTML document 42 and a limited number of layers of hyperlinks from the original HTML document 42 to be printed by the printer 17 . The user designates the URL of the HTML document 42 and requests the printer 17 to print the HTML document 42 containing the HTML document specified by the hyperlink in the HTML document 42 within the limit of the number of layers specified by the form.

HTML mail from the client computer 18 is sent to the HTML converter 13 through the URL register 12 .

Referring to Fig. 5, there is shown the flowchart that is operated by HTML converter 13 in the present embodiment, and HTML converter 13 receives from service computer 20 through HTTP server 41 and network 22 have by the user in step S100 specified URL. HTML document 42. Then, the HTML converter 13 decomposes the HTML document 42 into a plurality of specific HTML elements including characters (which may include control codes), bitmap data and embedded objects in step S101.

In step S102, the elements are checked one by one to judge whether each element is character or bitmap data that can be converted into printer language data for use in the printer 17 on its platform. If it is judged in step S102 that the element is character or bitmap data, the HTML converter 13 converts the element into printer language data in step S103. On the other hand, if it is judged in step S102 that the element is neither a character nor bitmap data, then in step S203 it is further checked whether the element is a hyperlink. If it is determined in step S203 that the element is a hyperlink, then in step S204 it is determined whether the level limit of the current hyperlink is greater than 0.

If it is judged in step S204 that the current limit of the number of levels is greater than 0, the HTML converter 13 repeats its own call in step S205 to receive and print another HTML document specified by the hyperlink in the HTML document 42 . In this step, the current URL is replaced by the new URL of the other HTML document, and the limit of the number of layers of hyperlinks is reduced by 1 and defined as the new limit. In other words, another window of the HTML converter 13 is started in which the current limit of the number of layers of a hyperlink is a parameter, and the URL of another document specified by the hyperlink is a new URL. After step S205, the process proceeds to step S104.

On the other hand, if step S203 judges that the element is an embedded object, the process proceeds to step S200, where the HTML converter 13 communicates with the object converter 32 and requests the object converter to convert the embedded object. If it is judged in step S201 that the embedded object is successfully converted into bitmap data, the process proceeds to step S103, where the embedded object is further converted into printer language data. If it is judged in step S201 that the embedded object is not converted into bitmap data, the HTML converter 13 generates dummy bitmap data instead of the embedded object data. After the character or bitmap data for the element is converted into printer language data in step S103, the process proceeds to step S104, and if it is judged in step S104 that not all elements are converted, then returns to step S101 , thereby repeating all steps for each element in the HTML document. Therefore, as long as the number of layers of hyperlinks does not exceed the limit specified by the user, all elements in the HTML document specified by the user and the hyperlink are converted.

After step S104 judges that the HTML converter 13 converts all elements in the entire HTML document 42 into printer language data with or without dummy data, the printer language program 14 translates the printer language data into a printer engine 15 print data that can be processed. Therefore, the printer 17 prints all HTML documents specified by hyperlinks within the limit of the number of layers. Images for objects that cannot be converted to bitmap data are replaced by dummy data images.

In the above-described embodiments, a single printer auxiliary server is provided, but a plurality of printer auxiliary servers may be provided to reduce the burden on a single printer auxiliary server by distributing tasks to a plurality of printer auxiliary servers.

Since the above-mentioned embodiments are only for illustration, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various changes or changes can be easily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (6)

1. A computer system, characterized in that it includes a service computer for storing hypertext markup language (HTML) documents with its uniform resource locator (URL), a uniform resource for specifying hypertext markup language documents The client computer of the function of the locator, and the printing device for printing according to the printer language, they are all connected to each other through a network for data transmission, and the printing device includes a device for printing according to the uniform resource location specified by the client computer The document receiving portion of the symbol receives the HTML document from the service computer. 2. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein said document receiving section includes a URL register for storing a URL specified by said client computer, and uses a URL based on the URL stored in said URL register. an HTML converter for receiving said HTML document from said service computer. 3. The computer system according to claim 2, wherein the HTML converter has a function for converting the HTML document into data for printing defined by the printer language. 4. The computer system according to claim 3, further comprising a printer auxiliary server connected at least to the printing device, and the printer auxiliary server converts the object embedded in the HTML document into bitmap data. 5. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein said document receiving section receives a plurality of other HTML documents specified by hyperlinks embedded in said HTML document. 6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the client computer specifies a limit on the number of levels of hyperlinks traced from the HTML document for another HTML document.

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