JP7508202B2 - Information processing device, control method, and control program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a control method for an information processing device, and a control program. For example, the present invention relates to a system capable of processing print settings.

In one configuration, a printer driver installed on a host computer is used as the control software for the image forming device, and printing is performed on an image forming device connected to the host computer. An operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS), which is the basic software, is installed on the host computer, and the printer driver is configured according to the specifications defined by the OS. By providing a printer driver that conforms to the OS specifications, a vendor that provides an image forming device can obtain a means of issuing print instructions to the image forming device.

However, in recent years, operating systems have begun to provide generic printer drivers and a means to send print instructions using industry standard protocols such as IPP (Internet Printing Protocol).

Previously, if the printer driver was provided by the printer vendor, the prohibited characters information could be included within the printer driver.

Patent Publication 2014-209316

To build a platform environment that is also compatible with mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, there is a need to reduce the parts of a general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver that depend on peripheral devices. In such a platform environment, there is a problem that it is difficult to include processing that depends on the specifications of each peripheral device in the general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver. There is also a problem that it is difficult to include processing and data required for prohibition processing in printer drivers, etc., in the general-purpose OS or general-purpose device driver.

The present invention has been made in consideration of at least one of the above problems. One objective of this embodiment is to provide a mechanism for eliminating processing that depends on the specifications of each peripheral device from within a general-purpose OS or a general-purpose device driver.

Yet another object of this embodiment is to provide a mechanism for a platform environment that is also compatible with mobile devices, including, for example, smartphones and tablets.

One aspect of the present invention is an information processing device having a generic printer driver that generates print data that can be printed by a printer, and an application that provides a print setting screen that sets print settings provided to the generic printer driver, characterized in that the information processing device has an acquisition means that acquires information about a combination of setting values corresponding to the printer using the application in accordance with a predetermined operation being performed via another print setting screen provided by the operating system of the information processing device, a control means that controls the print settings set on the print setting screen provided by the application so as not to include a predetermined combination of setting values based on prohibition information identified based on the acquired information, a generation means that generates print data based on print settings controlled so as not to include the predetermined combination of setting values, and a transmission means that transmits the generated print data to the printer.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a mechanism for eliminating processing that depends on the specifications of each peripheral device from within a general-purpose OS or a general-purpose device driver.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a mechanism for a platform environment that is also compatible with mobile devices.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a client computer. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a software configuration of a client computer. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing by a generic printer driver and the like according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a print setting process of a generic printer driver according to the first embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of an extended print application according to the first embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of an extended print application according to the first embodiment. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of an extended print application according to the second embodiment. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of an extended print application according to the second embodiment. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating an example of a UI of a touch application and a generic printer driver. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an extended print setting UI. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of prohibition information.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings and tables.

First Embodiment
First, the configuration of the system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of the system configuration according to the present embodiment. The system according to the present embodiment includes a client computer 101, a server 104, and a printer 102. The client computer 101 is an example of an information processing apparatus. The server 104 distributes data to the client computer 101. The printer 102 receives print data in a page description language (hereinafter referred to as PDL) format and performs printing. Each apparatus can communicate with each other through a network 103 including a wide area network (WAN). The printer 102 may be a single function printer having only a printing function, or may be a multifunction printer having a printing function, a scanning function, and a copying function. The client computer 101 is not limited to one, and may be multiple, connected to the network 103.

2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the client computer 101 in FIG. 1. In the client computer 101, the central processing unit (CPU 201) controls each device connected to the system bus according to a program stored in the random access memory (RAM 202). The client computer 101 is assumed to have at least one CPU 201. In addition, the software configuration of the client computer 101 and the processing of each step of the flowchart described later are realized by the CPU 201 executing processing based on the program stored in the external memory 209. The RAM 202 functions as the main memory, work area, etc. of the CPU 201. Various programs such as a boot program and a basic input/output system (BIOS) are written in the read-only memory (ROM) 203. The operation input device interface (I/F) 204 is an interface that controls the operation input device 205 such as a keyboard, a pointing device (mouse), and a touch UI (User Interface). The operation input device 205 functions as a reception unit that receives operations from the user. The display I/F 206 controls the display of a screen on the display 207. The display 207 functions as a display unit that displays information to the user. The external memory I/F 208 controls access to an external memory 209 such as a hard disk (HD) or a solid state disk (SSD). The external memory 209 stores an operating system program (OS) 210, an application execution environment 213, a plurality of various applications 212 corresponding to the touch panel and the desktop, and various files. The external memory 209 functions as a storage medium that can be read by the client computer 101. The network I/F 215 is connected to the printer 102 via the network 103 and performs communication control processing. The server 104 also includes the same hardware configuration as the client computer 101 and operates in the same manner. The plurality of various applications 212 in FIG. 2 includes at least the extended print application 300, the desktop application 302, and the touch application 301 in FIG. 3. The printer driver 211 includes a generic printer driver 320. The instruction sequences of these multiple programs are read into the RAM 202 and executed under the control of the CPU 201. This triggers the processing of the flowcharts described in the figures below.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the printing system of this embodiment. The user executes the print process from a desktop application or a touch application. The print process is executed by performing three processes in sequence: printer selection, creation of print settings, and conversion of drawing data.

In this embodiment, the software in the client computer 101 is composed of various application programs such as a desktop application 302, a touch application 301, and a print extension application 300. These software programs run on the OS 210. The various configurations are described below. The OS 210 may include a print manager 331, an I/O monitor 332, an XMS spool file 330, and a registry 333. The generic print management unit 321 manages the control of various modules in the generic print driver described below and the transfer of data. It also generates and changes print setting information. The registry 323 is an area in which the settings of the OS 210 are written. The print manager 331 manages the schedule of print processing. The I/O monitor 332 communicates with the printer 102. The generic print setting UI 322 is a UI that performs and changes print settings belonging to the generic printer driver. The GDI to XPS conversion processing unit 328 converts the drawing data, which is the drawing data when printing from the desktop application 302, into XPS, generates an XPS spool file 330, and passes it to the spooler in the OS 3210. The rendering processing unit 329 renders the XPS spool file 330 and converts it into PDL. The touch application 301 is selected by the user through an application distribution system published on the Internet and installed in the client computer 101. The print extension application 300 is a type of the touch application 301, and is acquired by the OS 210 from the application distribution system via the Internet and installed in the client computer 101. The application data area 307 is an area for storing unique data used for each application. However, it can be configured so that it cannot be accessed from other applications. The prohibition information presence/absence determination module 301 determines whether prohibition information 340 of the printer 102 associated with the print extension application is stored in the application data area 307. The prohibition information saving module 342 saves prohibition information 340 of the printer 102 associated with the print extension application in the application data area 307. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer 102 can be connected to a plurality of different models, and in that case, prohibition information 340 is saved in the application data area 307 for each printer. The tile application unit 303 displays a tiled UI in response to a user operation of starting the print extension application 300. The extended print setting UI unit 306 displays a UI for extended print settings in response to reception of an extended print setting event issued by the OS 210. The extended print setting UI unit 306 generates a UI for extended print settings based on the print setting information passed from the OS 210 and the printing capability information obtained by communicating independently with the printer 102. The extended print setting UI unit 306 changes the value of the print setting information according to the user's input, and then returns the print setting information to the OS 210. The print-time startup application 305 provides a function called Workflow (WF) that executes a print-related process when a specific user operation is triggered. The print-time startup application 305 is a background task for starting the edit & preview function unit 306, which is a foreground task, when a print event is issued from the OS 210. The print-time startup application 305 requests the OS 210 to start the edit & preview function unit 306. The print-time startup application 305 also exchanges print setting information with the edit & preview function unit 306 via the application data area 307. The edit & preview function unit 306 acquires print setting information and changes the settings. In this embodiment, the edit & preview function unit 306 also acquires and saves prohibition information 340, and executes prohibition determination processing. FIG. 12 shows an example of prohibition information 340, which is a text file that describes the definition of a print function and an invalid combination of functions.

The prohibition information acquisition module 342 acquires information such as printing capability information and prohibition information 340 from the target printer or cloud server via the device connection module 308 or cloud connection module 309. The device connection module is a module that communicates with the printer 102. The cloud connection module is a module that communicates with a specific cloud server 105. The prohibition determination module 343 uses the prohibition information 340 when inputting print settings to determine whether or not a conflict has occurred in the print settings.

Next, a mechanism for using a print extension app to perform prohibition determination processing for print settings that cannot be performed by a generic printer driver will be described with reference to Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7. The CPU 201 is an example of a storage control unit.

Note that each application and module is stored in the external memory 209, loaded into the RAM 202 as necessary, and executed by the CPU 201 on the client computer 101. The flow shown in FIG. 4 begins when a print setting request event occurs from a specific application. The specific application includes, but is not limited to, a spreadsheet, a document editing application, a paint application, and the like. It may be included in the application 212 in FIG. 2. Note that the application that triggers the print setting request event may be either the touch application 301 or the desktop application 302.

In this embodiment, the touch application 301 (FIG. 10) is used for explanation. FIG. 10(A) is a schematic diagram of the touch application 321 being started. When the menu icon button 1000 is tapped, the touch application 301 lists a list of menu options. Next, when the print item 1001, which is a menu option, is selected by a user operation, the touch application 301 requests the OS 210 to display the UI of the generic printer driver, and displays the generic print setting UI 327. FIG. 10(B) is the generic print setting UI 322 of the generic printer driver generated by the OS 210. The generic print setting UI 322 is composed of a print setting section 1020 and an event generation section 1030. The print setting section 1020 displays a list of simple print settings. 1021 is the name of the selected print queue, and 1022 is an example of the print setting that has been set. The generic print setting UI 322 accepts user operations after display. This process corresponds to S403. The print button 1032 of the print event generation unit 1030 is pressed (S406). This causes a print event to occur. The print event triggers the process of S407. A detailed explanation will be given below according to the flow.

The flow in FIG. 4 starts in response to the generic printer driver 322 receiving a user instruction, for example, via an application. Specifically, for example, S401 starts in response to the selection of print item 1001, which is an option in a menu. The flow in FIG. 4 may be controlled by the generic printer driver 322. The user instruction may be input to the generic printer driver from the OS 201.

First, in step S401, the generic print setting UI 327 is launched. Next, in step S402, the generic print setting management unit 321 of the generic printer driver 322 initializes the print setting information. Next, in step S403, the generic printer driver 322 accepts print setting input from the user via the generic print setting UI 322 of the generic printer driver. Next, in step S404, if the generic printer driver 322 detects pressing of the "Other Settings" button 1031, in step S405, an extended print setting process is executed by the print extension app 300. This process plays an important role, so it will be described later in FIG. 5. Next, the process returns from the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension app 300 to the generic print setting UI 322 of the generic printer driver 322, and then proceeds to step S406. When the generic printer driver detects the pressing of the "Print" button in step S406, it passes the print setting information to the OS 210 in step S407 and ends the processing of the print setting request.

Next, the operation of the extended print setting process by the print extension app 300 will be explained using FIG. 5.

The flow in FIG. 5 begins in step S501 when the user presses the "Other Settings" button 1031, causing the generic printer driver 322 to request the OS 210 to launch the extended print settings UI 306 of the print extension app 300. The flow in FIG. 5 may be triggered under the control of the print extension app 300. The print extension app is an example of a control program.

First, in step S501, the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension application 300 is launched by the OS 210. An example of the extended print setting UI 306 is shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 11. 1101 is an example of the extended print setting UI 306, 1102 and 1103 display various print functions, and options and on/off are switched by toggling 1104 and 1105. 1106 is an "OK" button for returning from the extended print setting UI 306 to the general-purpose print setting UI 322. Next, in step S502, the print extension application 300 receives print setting information set by the general-purpose printer driver from the OS 210. Next, in step S503, the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension application 300 uses the prohibition information presence/absence determination module 301 to determine whether or not prohibition information 340 is present in the application data area 307. If the prohibition information 340 is not present in the application data area 307, in step S504, the device connection module 308 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102. Then, in step S505, the prohibition information storage module 341 of the print extension application 300 stores the prohibition information 340 acquired via the prohibition information acquisition module 342 in the application data area 307. Next, in step S506, the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 stored in the application data area 307. Next, in step S507, the input of print settings from the user is accepted via the extended print setting UI 306. Next, in step S508, the extended print setting UI 306 performs prohibition determination processing on the input of print settings using the prohibition information 340 via the prohibition determination module 343. Next, in step S509, the extended print setting UI 306 branches processing according to the result of the prohibition determination processing. If a conflict occurs in the print settings, in step S510, the extended print setting UI 306 returns the print settings to the state before they were changed. Then, in step S507 again, the print extension application 300 accepts input of print settings from the user via the extended print setting UI 306. For example, in the schematic diagram of FIG. 11, if the user selects "Postcard" 1104 for the output paper size 1102 and further tries to set the double-sided printing setting 1103 to ON 1105, the extended print setting UI 306 performs a prohibition determination process using the prohibition determination module 343. In this example, since a conflict occurs in the print settings, the extended print setting UI 306 changes the double-sided printing setting back to OFF before it was set, displays a warning screen 1110, and returns to the UI that accepts input of the print settings after accepting the input of the OK button 1111 by the user. If no conflict occurs in the print settings, the process proceeds to step S511. In step S511, the extended print setting UI 306 determines whether the "OK" button 1106 has been pressed. If the print extension application 300 detects in step S511 that the "OK" button 1106 has been pressed, the print setting information is updated in step S512. Next, in step S513, the print extension application 300 passes the print setting information to the OS 210, ends the extended print setting process, and returns to the general-purpose print setting UI 322.

Once the print settings in the generic printer driver have been finalized, the user executes the print process from an application. When printing from the desktop application 302, drawing data is sent to the GDI to XPS conversion processing unit 328, and an XPS spool file 330 is created. At this time, the GDI to XPS conversion processing unit 206 calls the generic print management unit 321, which converts the print setting information from an OS-specific format to a generic printing format. (For example, converting from a DEVMODE structure to a PrintTicket.) When printing from the touch application 301, there are two methods: the touch application itself generates the XPS file, and the OS generates the XPS file in response to a command from the touch application. In either case, an XPS spool file 330 is generated.

The operation when a print request is received from the touch application 301 is explained below with reference to FIG. 6.

In the flow of FIG. 6, a print event is started by pressing the print button 1032 as a user instruction, and step S601 is started in response to the generation of the XPS spool file 330.

In step S601, since the XPS spool file 330 is generated, the process is temporarily handed over to the OS 210, and the OS 210 reads the settings of the registry 330. Next, in step S602, the OS 210 checks whether the registry 330 is set to start the print-time startup application 305. If the registry 330 is not set to start the print-time startup application 304, the OS 210 passes the process to the generic printer driver 320. Then, the process proceeds to the next rendering process in S604. If the registry 330 is set to start the print-time startup application 304, the process proceeds to the edit & preview process of the print extension application 300 in step S603. The details of the process of step S603 will be described later with reference to FIG. 7. S603 is a process performed by the print extension application 300. Next, in step S604, the process is handed over from the OS 210 to the generic printer driver 320. As a result, the process proceeds to the rendering processing unit 329. In S604, the rendering processing unit 329 renders the XPS spool file 330 and converts it into PDL. At this time, the print setting data is also converted from print setting information in a format unique to the OS to print setting information in an industry standard. Next, in step S605, the process is passed to the OS 210 again. The OS 210 reads the setting of the registry 330. In step S606, the OS 210 checks whether or not the print start application 304 is set to be started in the registry 330. If the print start application 304 is not set to be started in the registry 330, the process proceeds to the next PDL transmission process S609. If the print start application 304 is set to be started in the registry 330, the process proceeds to the edit and preview process of the print extension application in step S608. Details of the process in step S603 will also be described later with reference to FIG. 7. In step S609, the general-purpose print management unit passes the PDL data to the print manager 331, which manages the schedule for print processing, and print jobs are registered in a queue one after another. When the printer 102 is ready to print, it transmits the PDL data through the I/O monitor 332 in the order in which it was registered in the queue.

Next, the details of the editing and preview process of the print extension app will be explained using Figure 7.

The flow in FIG. 7 starts at step S701 in response to the OS 210 issuing an instruction to start the print extension app 300. Here, the OS 210 determines whether or not startup is necessary based on information in the registry 330, and issues a startup instruction if it determines that the print-time startup app 304 should be started.

In step S701, the print-time launch application 304 of the print extension application 300 is launched by the OS 210. Next, in step S702, the print-time launch application receives print setting information from the OS 210. Next, in step S703, the print-time launch application 304 launches the edit & preview function 305 and passes the print setting information to the edit & preview function 305. Next, in step S704, the edit & preview function 305 determines whether or not there is prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307 via the prohibition information presence/absence determination module 301. If there is no prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307, in step S705, the prohibition information acquisition module 342 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102. Then, in step S706, the prohibition information storage module 341 saves the acquired prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307. Next, in step S707, the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 stored in the application data area 307. Next, in step S708, the print extension application 300 accepts the input of print settings from the user via the UI of the edit & preview function 305. Next, in step S709, the print extension application 300 performs prohibition determination processing on the input of print settings using the prohibition information 340 via the prohibition information determination module 343. Next, in step S710, the print extension application 300 branches the processing according to the result of the prohibition determination processing. If a conflict occurs in the print settings, in step S711, the edit & preview function 305 of the print extension application 300 returns the print settings to the state before they were changed. Then, in step S708, the print extension application 300 accepts the input of print settings from the user via the UI of the edit & preview function 305. If no conflict occurs in the print settings, the process proceeds to step S712. In step S712, the print extension application 300 determines whether the "OK" button 1106 has been pressed. If the edit and preview function 305 of the print extension application 300 detects that the "OK" button 1106 has been pressed in step S712, the print setting information is updated in step S713. Next, in step S713, the print extension application 300 passes the print setting information to the OS 210, ends the edit and preview function, and returns to the processing flow shown in FIG. 6.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the print extension app 300 determines whether or not there is prohibition information at the following times. For example, when the extended print setting UI 306 is launched during print setting request processing. Or, when the edit & preview function 305 is launched during print request processing. At this time, the presence or absence of prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307 is determined. Then, if the prohibition information 340 is not present, the prohibition information 340 is obtained from the printer 102 and saved in the application data area 307. This is then used to perform prohibition determination processing. Therefore, even when printing from a generic printer driver, prohibition processing specific to the printer vendor or printer is possible.

Second Embodiment
In the first embodiment, a mechanism for determining whether or not prohibition information 340 is present and for acquiring prohibition information 340 when the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension application 300 is launched or when the edit & preview function 305 is launched during print setting processing and print processing was described.

In this embodiment, we will explain another function of the print extension app 300, which is a mechanism by which the tile app 303 determines whether or not prohibition information 340 is present in the application data area 307 and obtains it from the printer 102.

The specific processing according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 8. Note that each application and module is stored in the external memory 209, loaded into the RAM 202 as necessary, and executed by the CPU 201 on the client computer 101. Also, detailed explanations of numbers that have already been explained will be omitted.

The flow in FIG. 8 begins at step S901 when the user directly launches the print extension app 300.

First, in step S801, the tile application function 303 of the print extension application 300 is launched. Next, in step S802, the tile application function 303 of the print extension application 300 determines whether or not prohibition information 340 is present in the application data area 307 of the print extension application 300 via the prohibition information presence/absence determination module 301. If prohibition information 340 is not present in the application data area 307, in step S803, the prohibition information acquisition module 342 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102. Then, in step S804, the prohibition information storage module 341 of the print extension application 300 stores the acquired prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the print extension app 300 can determine whether or not prohibition information 340 is present in the application data area 307 and can obtain the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102 even when using the tile app 303. Therefore, when the tile app 303 is used, it is possible to eliminate the need to separately obtain the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102 during print setting processing or print processing. The processing in FIG. 8 can update or add the prohibition information 340 in response to starting the print extension app 300 asynchronously or independently from the processing other than that in FIG. 8 described in this embodiment.

Third Embodiment
In the first embodiment, the mechanism in which the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102 has been described.

In this embodiment, a mechanism for obtaining prohibition information 340 from a location other than the printer itself is described. The following explanation focuses on the differences from the previous embodiment.

Specific processing according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 9. Each application and module is stored in the external memory 209, loaded into the RAM 202 as necessary, and executed by the CPU 201 on the client computer 101. Also, detailed explanations of numbers that have already been explained will be omitted. Also, in this embodiment, an example of the extended print setting UI 306 and the edit & preview function 305 are shown, but as shown in the second embodiment, a similar mechanism is possible with the tile app 303. Note that the processing in the generic printer driver 322 before and after the extended print setting is performed with the print extension app 300 is the same as the processing in steps S401 to S407 shown in FIG. 4, so detailed explanations will be omitted. The flow in FIG. 9 begins with step S901 in response to the generic printer driver 322 requesting the OS 210 to start the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension app 300 when the user presses the "Other Settings" button 1031.

First, in step S901, the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension app is launched by the OS 210. Next, in step S902, the application launched during the print setting UI function receives print setting information from the OS 210. Next, in step S903, the extended print setting UI 306 of the print extension app 300 determines whether or not there is prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307 of the print extension app 300 via the prohibition information presence/absence determination module 301. If there is no prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307, in step S904, the prohibition information acquisition module 342 of the print extension app 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102. Next, in step S905, the prohibition information storage module 341 of the print extension app 300 determines whether or not it has successfully acquired the prohibition information 340 from the printer 102. If the acquisition of the prohibition information 340 fails, in step S906, the prohibition information acquisition module 342 of the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 corresponding to the printer 102 from a predetermined cloud server. Then, in step S907, the prohibition information storage module 341 of the print extension application 300 stores the acquired prohibition information 340 in the application data area 307. Next, in step S908, the print extension application 300 acquires the prohibition information 340 stored in the application data area 307. Note that the processes in steps S909 to S915 are similar to the processes in steps S507 to S513 shown in FIG. 5, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the print extension app 300 can obtain the prohibition information 340 from a location other than the printer itself. Therefore, even if the printer itself does not have the prohibition information 340, such as when the printer is an old model or a low-cost model, the prohibition information 340 can be obtained and prohibition processing can be performed.

In this embodiment, the following has been described. An information processing device that executes a printer driver to generate print data based on instructions from an application running on an operating system has been described. An example of an information processing device is a client computer 101.

An example of an application that processes print settings is the extended print app 300. For example, under the control of 301, it has been shown that a conflict or inconsistency in print settings is resolved based on prohibition information 340 for resolving conflicts in settings that should be input to the printer driver. An example of conflict resolution information is prohibition information 340. It has also been described that the resolved print settings are input to the printer driver from 310. An example of a printer driver is the generic printer driver 320.

It has also been described that the presence or absence of conflict resolution information in the application data area 307 is determined. An example of an image forming device is the printer 102. 308 acquires conflict resolution information from the printer. Furthermore, the CPU 201 stores the conflict resolution information acquired by 308 in the application data area.

For example, 300 resolves print setting conflicts using prohibition information 340 stored in the application data area.

300 is executed, for example, when a tile application is launched, when a user interface program for advanced print settings is launched, or when a preview or editing function is launched.

If the prohibition information cannot be obtained from the printer 102, conflict resolution information may be obtained from a predetermined external information processing device. An example of an external information processing device is the cloud server 105.

An example of an operating system is the OS 201. A generic printer driver may be executed based on an instruction from a document editing application running on the OS 201 to generate print data. Then, 300 accepts a specific event caused by the generic printer driver. After the accepting means accepts the specific event caused by the generic printer driver, 300 performs the following process. That is, 300 is executed by the CPU 201. Then, under the control of 300, a conflict or inconsistency in print settings is resolved based on conflict resolution information for resolving the conflict in settings to be input to the generic printer driver. 300 is an example of an application that processes specific extended print settings. Then, the resolved print settings can be input from 300 to the printer driver.

Claims (33)

An information processing apparatus having a generic printer driver that generates print data that can be printed by a printer, and an application that provides a print setting screen that sets print settings provided to the generic printer driver,
an acquisition means for acquiring information regarding a combination of setting values corresponding to the printer from the printer using the application in response to a predetermined operation being performed via another print setting screen provided by an operating system of the information processing device;
a control means for controlling the print settings set on the print setting screen provided by the application so as not to include a combination of predetermined setting values, based on prohibited character information specified based on the acquired information;
a generating means for generating print data based on print settings controlled so as not to include the combination of the predetermined setting values;
a transmission means for transmitting the generated print data to the printer;
13. An information processing device comprising: The printer further includes a determination unit that determines whether prohibition information corresponding to the printer is stored in a storage unit in response to the predetermined operation being performed,
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information when the determination unit determines that the prohibition information corresponding to the printer is not stored in the storage unit. The information processing device according to claim 2, characterized in that the acquisition means does not acquire the information when the determination means determines that prohibition information corresponding to the printer is stored in the storage means. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the acquisition means acquires the information from a server device based on a failure to receive the information from the printer. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the generic printer driver is a printer driver provided by an operating system of the information processing device. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the control means determines whether the print settings selected by the user include the combination of the specified setting values based on the prohibition information, and when it is determined that the combination of the specified setting values is included, controls the print settings so that the combination of the specified setting values is not included by changing one of the setting values included in the combination. The acquiring means acquires capability information of the printer,
7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print setting screen is displayed based on the acquired capability information of the printer. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the print setting screen is a screen including a preview image of the print data. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the specified operation is an instruction to display the print setting screen. An application that provides a print setting screen for setting print settings provided to a generic printer driver, the application being stored in an information processing device having a generic printer driver that generates print data that can be printed by a printer, the application comprising:
When the application is executed,
a receiving step of receiving a request issued in response to a predetermined operation being performed via another print setting screen provided by an operating system of the information processing device;
an acquisition step of acquiring information regarding a combination of setting values corresponding to the printer from the printer using the application based on the reception of the request in the receiving step ;
a receiving step of receiving an input of print settings from a user via the print setting screen;
a control step of controlling the print settings received in the receiving step so as not to include a combination of predetermined setting values, based on prohibition information specified based on the information acquired in the acquiring step;
An application characterized by executing The method further includes a step of determining whether prohibition information corresponding to the printer is stored in a storage means in response to the predetermined operation related to the generic printer driver being performed,
11. The application according to claim 10, wherein the obtaining step is executed when it is determined in the determining step that the prohibition information corresponding to the printer is not stored in the storage means. The application according to claim 11, characterized in that if it is determined in the determination step that prohibition information corresponding to the printer is stored in the storage means, the acquisition step is not executed. 13. The application according to claim 10 , wherein, if the acquisition of the information in the acquisition step fails, another acquisition step is executed to acquire the prohibition information from a server device. 14. The application according to claim 10 , wherein the generic printer driver is a printer driver provided by an operating system of the information processing apparatus. An application according to any one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that in the control process, it is determined whether the print settings set by the user include the combination of specified setting values based on the prohibition information, and if it is determined that the print settings set by the user include the combination, at least one of the setting values included in the combination is changed. 16. The application according to claim 10 , wherein the print setting screen is based on capability information acquired from the printer. The application according to any one of claims 10 to 16, characterized in that the specified operation is an operation accepted via a user interface provided by software other than the application, and is an operation corresponding to an instruction to display the print setting screen. The application according to claim 17, characterized in that the print setting screen is a screen that accepts settings of setting items that cannot be set in the user interface provided by software other than the application. 19. The application according to claim 10 , wherein the application is an application independent of the generic printer driver. The application according to any one of claims 10 to 19, characterized in that, in response to receiving an operation indicating that input of the print settings via the print settings screen has been completed, the application returns from the print settings screen to the other print settings screen . The application according to any one of claims 10 to 20, characterized in that the print setting screen displays a plurality of selectable print settings, and the control process is executed based on the selection of a setting value of one of the plurality of print settings. 22. The application according to claim 21, wherein the control step performs control so that the combination of the predetermined setting values is not included by restoring the setting value of the one print setting to a value before the change. 23. The application according to claim 15, wherein a warning screen is displayed when a setting value is changed in the control process. A method for controlling an information processing device storing a generic printer driver that generates print data that can be printed by a printer and an application that provides a print setting screen for setting print settings provided to the generic printer driver, comprising:
an acquisition step of acquiring information regarding a combination of setting values corresponding to the printer from the printer using the application in response to a predetermined operation being performed via another print setting screen provided by an operating system of the information processing device;
a control step of controlling the print settings provided to the generic printer driver so as not to include a combination of predetermined setting values, based on prohibited character information specified based on the information acquired in the acquisition step;
The control method comprises the steps of: The method further includes a step of determining whether prohibition information corresponding to the printer is stored in a storage means in response to the predetermined operation related to the generic printer driver being performed,
25. The control method according to claim 24 , wherein the acquisition step is executed when it is determined in the determination step that prohibition information corresponding to the printer is not stored in the storage means. 26. The control method according to claim 25 , wherein, when it is determined in said determining step that prohibition information corresponding to said printer is stored in said storage means, said obtaining step is not executed. The control method according to any one of claims 24 to 26, characterized in that if acquisition of the information in the acquisition step fails, another acquisition step is executed to acquire the prohibition information from a server device. 28. The control method according to claim 24 , wherein the generic printer driver is a printer driver provided by an operating system of the information processing apparatus. A control method as described in any one of claims 24 to 28, characterized in that in the control process, it is determined whether the print settings set by the user include the combination of specified setting values based on the prohibition information, and if it is determined that the print settings set by the user include the combination , at least one of the setting values included in the combination is changed. 20. The control method according to claim 24 , wherein the print setting screen is a print setting screen based on capability information acquired from the printer. The control method according to any one of claims 24 to 30 , characterized in that the predetermined operation is an operation accepted via a user interface provided by software different from the application, and is an operation corresponding to an instruction to display the print setting screen. 32. The control method according to claim 31 , wherein the print setting screen is a screen for accepting settings of setting items that cannot be set in the user interface provided by software different from the application. 33. The method according to claim 24 , wherein the application is an application independent of the generic printer driver.

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