Abstract:
A method of restoring a value of an item in a printer driver having a graphic user interface (GUI) including a plurality of items for print options includes sequentially storing values of previously set items, selecting one of the stored previously set item values, and moving to a screen showing the selected item value. In the selecting of a predetermined value, a desired item value is selected by moving in a reverse order of the item values stored lastly using a shortcut key.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-44507, filed on Jun. 16, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present general inventive concept relates to a printer driver, and more particularly, to a printer driver and a printing device to support a history functionality, and a method of restoring a value of an item using the history functionality.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     A driver that is needed to drive an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, includes items corresponding to print options, such as a number of copies to be printed, a water mark, color attributes, a color range, a resolution (DPI), and print quality.  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a graphic user interface (GUI)  100  of a conventional printer driver. The GUI  100  includes print menus in tabs including paper/quality, completion, effect, default, and so on, and items included in each of the print menus.  
         [0007]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the GUI  100  of the conventional printer driver includes the print menus, such as paper/quality, completion, effect, default, color, service, and information. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the color menu is activated and includes various items corresponding to print options, such as a color option, color attributes, and color ranges. In order to modify values of the items, a user selects the items of each of the print menus and changes the values of the items. After changing the values of the items, a user presses an “APPLY” button and the changed values are set as the changed values. Also, to set each item value as a default value, the user can press a “SET TO DEFAULT VALUE” button (not shown) provided by the printer driver, and the default values set by a manufacturer are restored.  
         [0008]     However, when using the GUI  100  of the conventional print driver, it is inconvenient for the user to change the default item values because the user needs to click each menu and then change the items to of each menu.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     The present general inventive concept provides a printer driver in which a history display portion in a pull-down menu format is separately included in a graphic user interface (GUI) thereof so that a user can see a list of items that the user set previously, and a method of restoring a value of an item by directly moving to the item.  
         [0010]     Also, the present general inventive concept provides a method of restoring values of items by moving to previous items from a most recently corrected item, or moving reversely, using a redo key or an undo key.  
         [0011]     Additional aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.  
         [0012]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing a method of restoring a value of an item in a printer driver having a graphic user interface (GUI) including a plurality of items corresponding to print options, the method comprising sequentially storing values of previously set items, selecting a predetermined value of the stored item values, and moving to a screen showing the selected item value. The selecting of a predetermined value may comprise displaying the sequentially stored item values in a predetermined manner.  
         [0013]     In the selecting of the predetermined value, a desired item value may be selected by moving in a reverse order of the item values stored lastly using a shortcut key, and when there is an item value stored after a present item value, the desired item value may be selected using a shortcut key.  
         [0014]     The shortcut key may exist in the graphic user interface of the printer driver. The predetermined manner may be one of a last input first output (LIFO) manner and a first input first output (FIFO) manner.  
         [0015]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a printer driver having a graphic user interface (GUI) including a plurality of items corresponding to print options, the graphic user interface comprising a history display portion that displays previously set item values in a predetermined manner.  
         [0016]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a printing device including an operation panel, the operation panel comprising a display portion that displays values of previously set items corresponding to print options in a predetermined manner, and a shortcut key that restores the values of the items by moving to one of the item values. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]     These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a view illustrating a graphic user interface of a conventional printer driver;  
         [0019]      FIG. 2A  is a view illustrating a graphic user interface of a printer driver according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept which includes shortcut keys (a redo key and an undo key) and a history display portion;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2B  is a view illustrating an operation panel according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept and a computer connected thereto; and  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating a method of changing values of items according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0023]     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept while referring to the figures.  
         [0024]      FIG. 2A  illustrates a graphic user interface (GUI)  200  of a printer driver according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to  FIG. 2A , the graphic user interface (GUI)  200  includes tab menus (paper/quality, completion, effect, default, color, service, and information) each containing items corresponding to print options. For example, the color tab menu, as illustrated in  FIG. 2A , includes a print job quick setting item, a color option item, a color attribute item, and a color range item. Although the tab menus of paper/quality, completion, effect, default, color, service, and information are illustrated in  FIG. 2A , the present general inventive concept is not limited thereto. The GUI  200  also includes a history display portion  201 . The history display portion  201 , as illustrated in  FIG. 2A , is in a pull-down menu format. The history display portion  201  lists items of the tab menus that were previously set by a user in a predetermined fashion. For example, as shown in  FIG. 2A , a the color option item (set to gray scale print), a number of copies item (set to 2), a print orientation item (set to landscape), a resolution item (set to 600×600 dpi), and the color range item (set to sRGB/sYCC) are listed in the history display portion  201  in order.  
         [0025]     The history display portion  201  may be included in each of tab menus, as shown in  FIG. 2A , or provided as a separate tab menu with a name of “HISTORY”. The items listed in the history display portion  201  can be listed in a last input first output (LIFO) or first input first output (FIFO) manner. In  FIG. 2A , two shortcut keys, an undo key  202  and a redo key  203 , are displayed. The undo key  202  reverses a most recent change to an item made by a user, and the redo key  203  reinstates the most recent change reversed by the undo key  202 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 3  illustrates a configuration of a printer  300  according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept and a computer  350  connected thereto. Referring to  FIG. 3 , the printer  300  includes a control portion  301 , a first storing portion  302 , a second storing portion  303 , and an operating panel equipment (OPE)  304 . The printer  300  may further include a communication interface portion  305  to receive data to be printed from the computer  350  and a print portion  307  to print the data.  
         [0027]     A document rendering portion  309  may be included in the printer  300 . In this case, a memory card can be inserted into an image input portion  311 . A print image set portion  310  sets a print image received from the memory card. The document rendering portion  309  performs rendering of the print image in units of dots. The rendered print image is converted by a color information conversion portion  308  to color information corresponding thereto, half-tone processed by a half-tone processing portion  306 , and printed by the print portion  307  on print paper.  
         [0028]      FIG. 2B  illustrates the OPE  304  of the printer  300 . Referring to  FIGS. 2A through 3 , the OPE  304  includes a display portion  304   a  and an input portion  304   b . The display portion  304   a  displays the GUI  200  of  FIG. 2A . When a user changes a value of one of the items of the GUI  200  displayed in the display portion  304   a , the input portion  304   b  generates key data corresponding to the value of the item and transfers the key data to the control portion  301  of the printer  300 . The input portion  304   b  includes four directional keys  304   c , shortcut keys including an redo key  304   d  and an undo key  304   e , and an enter key  304   f , so that a user can control the GUI  200  from the input portion  304   b  to change and restore the values of the items of the GUI  200  displayed in the display portion  304   a.    
         [0029]     The first storing portion  302  can be a non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) to store values of the items changed by the user when a power of the printer  300  is off. The second storing portion  303  can be a temporary storing portion to store the key data generated by the OPE  304  in a predetermined manner. The predetermined manner may be either a last input first output (LIFO) manner or a first input first output (FIFO) manner.  
         [0030]     The control portion  301  receives the key data generated from the OPE  304 , temporarily stores the received key data in the second storing portion  304 , and finally stores the key data in the first storing portion  302 . Also, the control portion  301  generally controls operations of the printer  300 , which are described in greater detail below.  
         [0031]     The computer  350  can include a storing portion  351 , a spooler portion  352 , a half-tone processing portion  353 , a color information conversion portion  354 , a document rendering portion  355 , an application program  356 , a communication interface portion  357 , and a printer driver  358 .  
         [0032]     A document created using the application program  356  is rendered by the document rendering portion  355  in units of dots. The rendered document is converted by the color information conversion portion  354  to corresponding color information. The color information is half-tone processed by the half-tone processing portion  404  and transferred to the printer  300  via the spooler portion  352  and the communication interface portion  357 .  
         [0033]     The printer driver  358  includes the GUI  200  of  FIG. 2A  and the GUI  200  includes the history display portion  201 . The user can control the GUI  200  from the computer  350  to reverse or reinstate the changes to the items listed in the history display portion  201 , using the shortcut keys, such as the redo key  203  and the undo key  202 . The storing portion  351  stores the values of the items changed by the user in a predetermined manner and displays the changed items on the history display portion  201 . The predetermined manner may be either a last input first output (LIFO) manner or a first input first output (FIFO) manner.  
         [0034]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating a method of changing the values of items of the GUI  200  according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to  FIGS. 2A-4 , when a user presses a print button after editing a document using the application program  356 , the GUI  200  is displayed (S 400 ) with the items if the GUI set to predetermined default values.  
         [0035]     The GUI  200  can include the history display portion  201  in a pull-down menu format as illustrated in  FIG. 2A . The history display portion  201  displays values of the items set or changed by the user.  
         [0036]     Next, it is determined whether a key of the GUI  200  is input (S 401 ). When the input key is a shortcut key (S 402 ), a selected item in the history display portion  201  is displayed by being highlighted (S 403 ). For example, in  FIG. 2A , the number of copies item is highlighted. The item can be highlighted by reversing or flickering the item.  
         [0037]     For example, assuming that, as shown in the history display portion  201  of  FIG. 2 , the item that the user set or changed most recently is a setting the color option item to gray scale print and the items changed preceding the color option item are sequentially setting the number of copies item to  2  and the print orientation item to landscape. If a pressed shortcut key is the undo key  203 , the item “Setting the number of copies to 2” is displayed by being inversed in the history display portion  201 , as shown in  FIG. 2A .  
         [0038]     Next, when the user changes the value of the selected item (S 404 ), the changed item value is stored (S 405 ) and the history display portion  201  is updated accordingly. If the item value is not changed, the system goes back to operation S 401  and waits for a key to be input.  
         [0039]     If the input key in operation S 402  is not a shortcut key, the tab menu selected by the user is displayed (S 406 ) and the values of the items of the selected tab menu can be set or changed. Likewise, the set or changed values are stored (S 405 ) and the history display portion  201  is updated accordingly.  
         [0040]     As described above, when a user needs to change a value of an item set in a printer driver, a user can move to the item and change the value of the item using the shortcut keys such as an undo key and a redo key. Also, the user can click a history display portion in a pull-down menu format included in the printer driver and move to one of the items listed in the history display portion by selecting the item to change the item value.  
         [0041]     In particular, when an item is set as a slide type, like the color attribute item of FIG.  2 A, a previous setting value can be effectively restored.  
         [0042]     Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.