JP7581894B2 - Support Programs - Google Patents

Description

The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to a support program that supports the control of a printer.

A known printer-related technology is one that manages whether or not a printer's functions can be used by each user. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that controls a printer in which the use of some functions is restricted from an information processing device.

JP 2020-166676 A

In recent years, a technology has been put into practical use that controls a printer without using a printer driver, but instead uses a print program that is built into the operating system (OS). With this technology, the OS associates the printer with the OS's standard print program, and thereafter, when a print command is received for that printer, printing can be performed using the OS's standard print program, without using a printer driver.

When using a printer with the above-mentioned restricted functions from an information processing device, it is desirable to be able to check on the information processing device whether the printer functions are available. However, the above-mentioned OS-standard general-purpose printing program does not provide a means for checking whether the printer functions set according to the user are available. As a result, after inputting a print command, the user of the information processing device may find out that the printer is unavailable only after moving to the printer, and improvement is desirable.

This specification discloses a technology that allows a user to check whether an information processing device that has an OS-standard general-purpose printing program built in can be used as a printer.

The support program made for solving the above-mentioned problems is executable by a computer of an information processing device, and is a support program corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device, and causes the computer to execute an identification information acquisition process to acquire identification information that identifies a user when a print instruction is output from an application program built into the information processing device and is a print instruction to cause the printer to print an image to a general-purpose print program pre-built into the operating system of the information processing device, and a usage condition acquisition process to acquire usage conditions associated with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process, the usage conditions being conditions that determine whether printing can be performed on the printer and are conditions that are set by the user, and further causes the computer to execute a determination process to determine whether printing can be performed on the printer based on the print settings for the print instruction and the usage conditions acquired in the usage condition acquisition process when the print instruction is received, and a notification process to issue a notification based on the determination result in the determination process using a user interface of the information processing device.

When a print instruction is given to the general-purpose print program, the support program in the above configuration acquires the user's identification information and the usage conditions corresponding to that identification information, determines whether printing can be performed on the printer based on both of the acquired information, and notifies the user of the determination result. This allows the user to know whether printing can be performed on the printer on the information processing device before printing is performed on the printer.

The control method for implementing the functions of the above device, the computer program, and the computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program are also novel and useful.

The technology disclosed in this specification allows a user to check whether an information processing device that has a standard OS general-purpose printing program installed can be used as a printer.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the electrical configuration of a PC. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a usage condition database. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure of a printing operation by each program. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for a print execution determination process. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a print setting screen. FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a printing failure notification screen. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a print setting screen.

A personal computer (hereinafter, "PC") that uses the support program of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings. This specification discloses a support program that is executed on a PC that is connected to a printer with a printing function.

As shown in FIG. 1, the PC 1 of this embodiment is equipped with a controller 10 including a CPU 11 and a memory 12. The PC 1 is an example of an information processing device. The CPU 11 is an example of a computer. The PC 1 also has a user interface (hereinafter referred to as "user IF") 13 and a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as "communication IF") 14, which are electrically connected to the controller 10. Note that the controller 10 in FIG. 1 is a general term for the hardware and software used to control the PC 1, and does not necessarily represent a single piece of hardware that actually exists in the PC 1.

The CPU 11 executes various processes according to the programs read from the memory 12 and based on the user's operations. The memory 12 stores various programs, including various application programs (hereinafter referred to as "apps"), and various data. The memory 12 is also used as a working area when various processes are executed. The buffer provided in the CPU 11 is also an example of a memory. Note that an example of the memory 12 is not limited to a ROM, RAM, HDD, etc. built into the PC 1, but may also be a storage medium that can be read and written by the CPU 11, such as a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

User IF 13 includes hardware that displays a screen for notifying the user of information, and hardware that accepts operations by the user. User IF 13 may be a combination of a display capable of displaying information and a mouse or keyboard having an input reception function, or may be a touch panel having a display function and an input reception function.

The communication IF 14 includes hardware for communicating with external devices such as the printer 2 and the management device 3. The communication standards of the communication IF 14 include Ethernet (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), USB, etc. The PC 1 may be equipped with multiple communication IFs 14 that support multiple communication standards.

As shown in FIG. 1, the memory 12 of the PC 1 stores an operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS") 21 including a general-purpose print program 41, an auxiliary program 42, and an editing application 43. The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program. The editing application 43 is an example of an application program. The OS 21 is, for example, Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), Linux (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), or Android (registered trademark).

The general-purpose printing program 41 is an OS standard program that causes various printers, such as printer 2, to execute printing based on user instructions.

The generic printing program 41 supports functions that can be used commonly by multiple models of printers provided by various printer vendors. The generic printing program 41 does not support all of the functions that are unique to each printer, and the functions it supports are limited to generic ones.

The auxiliary program 42 is a program or group of programs that executes processing based on instructions from the OS 21 in conjunction with the processing of the generic printing program 41, and is an application that supports the control of the target hardware. In this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 corresponds to the model of the printer 2 connected to the PC 1, and is launched from the generic printing program 41 when, for example, an instruction is received to cause the printer 2 to execute printing using the generic printing program 41. The auxiliary program 42 is called, for example, a hardware support application (abbreviated as HSA).

The auxiliary program 42 can accept multiple types of commands from the general-purpose printing program 41 and executes various processes based on the accepted commands. Note that the auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of multiple programs that each accept execution commands, or it may be a single program that can execute different processes depending on the command.

The auxiliary program may be a program prepared by the printer vendor for each type of printer. For example, an auxiliary program for inkjet printers and an auxiliary program for laser printers may be prepared separately. For example, when a new printer is connected to PC1, OS21 of PC1 downloads an appropriate auxiliary program from a server or the like according to the type of connected printer and incorporates it into its own device. Then, OS21 associates the identification information of the incorporated auxiliary program with the printer information of the newly connected printer and stores it in memory 12. Note that there may be auxiliary programs prepared not only for each type of printer, but also for each model of printer or each series of printer models.

The editing application 43 is, for example, an application for creating and editing image data and document data. The editing application 43 may be, for example, Microsoft (registered trademark) Word or PowerPoint, or may be an application provided by the vendor of the printer 2. The editing application 43 accepts user operations including instructions to cause the printer 2 to perform a specified operation. Specifically, the editing application 43 accepts, for example, a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to execute printing via the user IF 13.

The printer 2 of this embodiment is a device with a printing function. The PC 1 can communicate with the printer 2 via the communication IF 14. The printer 2 receives print data from the PC 1, for example, and executes printing based on the received print data. Furthermore, the printer 2 of this embodiment has a restriction function that determines whether printing can be executed based on the usage conditions set for each user. The restriction function can be enabled or disabled via the management device 3 or the operation panel of the printer 2. The memory of the printer 2 stores function information 21 that indicates whether the restriction function is enabled or disabled. The function information 21 may include information on the enable/disable of other functions, such as a scan function and a fax transmission function. The printer 2 of this embodiment also has a usage conditions DB 23 that sets the usage conditions for each user.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the usage condition DB 23. The usage condition DB 23 stores the usage conditions in association with a user name indicating the name of the user and a user ID that identifies the user. The user ID is an example of identification information.

The usage conditions are conditions that determine whether printing can be performed on the printer 2. In this embodiment, the usage conditions restrict the use of specific print settings. The specific print settings are, for example, print settings that contribute to saving consumables such as toner and paper.

The usage conditions include, for example, the number of prints, color/monochrome, and toner saving. The number of prints item is set to the upper limit of the number of prints that a user can print in one print job. The number of prints item may be set to "unlimited", which indicates that the number of prints is not limited. The number of prints may be the number of prints counted for each print job. It may also be the total number of prints of paper that can be printed within a specified period, or the total number of prints of a job. Color/monochrome indicates whether color printing is restricted or not. That is, if the use of color printing is restricted and only the use of monochrome printing is permitted, only "monochrome" is set in the color/monochrome item, and if the use of color printing is permitted, "color" and "monochrome" are set in the color/monochrome item. Toner saving indicates whether printing without toner saving is restricted or not. That is, if printing without toner saving is restricted and printing with toner saving is permitted, only "ON" is set in the toner saving item, and if printing without toner saving is permitted, "ON" and "OFF" are set in the toner saving item.

Furthermore, the usage conditions may include single-sided/double-sided, aggregate printing (e.g., 2-in-1), printing on a specific paper type, etc. Single-sided/double-sided indicates whether single-sided printing is restricted or not. Aggregate printing indicates whether printing without aggregation is restricted or not. Whether printing on a specific paper type is possible indicates whether printing on a specific paper type such as postcards is restricted or not.

In this embodiment, the user for which the identification information is targeted is an individual, but the user for which the identification information is targeted may also be a group or a company (corporation). In this case, the usage conditions DB 23 stores the usage conditions in association with group identification information that identifies the group that will be the user, or company identification information that identifies the company (corporation) that will be the user.

Returning to FIG. 1, the management device 3 is a device that has communication and data storage functions. The management device 3 is communicatively connected to multiple printers, including, for example, the printer 2 that has a restriction function and the printer 200 that does not have a restriction function, and collectively manages these printers.

For example, the management device 3 includes a function information management DB 31 and a usage condition management DB 33. The management device 3 is, for example, a PC used by an administrator or a server provided on a network. The function information management DB 31 is a database for managing function information for each printer connected to the management device 3. The function information management DB 31 stores function information including information indicating whether a restricted function is enabled or disabled, associated with, for example, the identification information of the printer.

The usage condition management DB 33 is a database for managing the usage conditions set by the user for each printer connected to the management device 3. The usage condition management DB 33 stores the usage condition DB in association with the printer's identification information. The management device 3 periodically communicates with the printers connected to the management device 3, and performs synchronization processing to ensure that the function information and data related to the usage conditions are updated to the latest content. Therefore, the function information 21 and usage condition DB 23 held by the printer 2 are the same as the function information and usage condition DB that the management device 3 stores in the function information management DB 31 and usage condition management DB 33 for the printer 2.

Next, the printing procedure including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows the operation when an application that accepts print instructions, such as an editing application 43, accepts a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to print using the general-purpose print program 41, and when the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is installed in the PC 1.

Note that the processes and each processing step of the flowchart in this embodiment basically indicate the processing of the CPU 11 according to instructions written in a program such as the auxiliary program 42. The processing by the CPU 11 also includes hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, the operation of each program will be explained without a detailed description of the OS 21. Also, "obtain" is used as a concept that does not necessarily require a request.

As shown in FIG. 3, after accepting edits of characters, graphics, etc., the editing application 43 accepts a print instruction with the printer 2 and various print settings selected on the print screen (A01), and passes information about the accepted print instruction to the OS 21. When the OS 21 accepts a print execution instruction that uses the general-purpose print program 41, it executes the general-purpose print program 41 and passes information about the print instruction, such as image data and print settings, to the general-purpose print program 41 (A02).

The general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate image data by converting the format of the image data included in the information about the received print instruction into the format of intermediate image data, and generates a print job including the intermediate image data (A03). The image data passed from the editing application 43 can be of various types, and the general-purpose printing program 41 converts the received image data into intermediate image data suitable for generating print data. Note that if the image data included in the print instruction is suitable for generating print data, the generation of the intermediate image data may be omitted and the image data may be used as is as intermediate image data. The intermediate image data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 is, for example, XPS data.

Because the device selected in the print instruction is printer 2 and an auxiliary program 42 corresponding to printer 2 is stored in memory 12, the generic print program 41 outputs an execution instruction to the auxiliary program 42 (A04). In response to the execution instruction, the generic print program 41 operates the auxiliary program 42 and passes the generated intermediate image data to the auxiliary program 42. Note that in A04, print setting information is also passed to the auxiliary program 42 along with the intermediate image data.

The general-purpose printing program 41 may execute the auxiliary program 42 before generating the intermediate image data. The auxiliary program 42 may, for example, receive information indicating print settings included in the print instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41, edit a part of it, and return it to the general-purpose printing program 41.

When the auxiliary program 42 receives an execution instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41 in A04, it executes a print execution decision process (A05). The print execution decision process is a process that determines whether to execute or cancel the printing for which an execution instruction has been received from the general-purpose printing program 41.

The procedure for the print execution determination process executed in A05 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 4. This print execution determination process is a process of the auxiliary program 42, and is executed by the CPU 11 of the PC 1. In the print execution determination process, the CPU 11 first acquires function information 21 that includes information on whether restricted functions are enabled or disabled (S1). S1 is an example of a management information acquisition process.

For example, the CPU 11 requests the printer 2 selected in the print command to send function information 21 via the communication IF 14. When the CPU 11 receives the function information 21 output by the printer 2 in response to the request via the communication IF 14, it stores it in the memory 12.

The CPU 11 may obtain the function information 21 from the management device 3. For example, the CPU 11 transmits the identification information of the printer 2 to the management device 3 via the communication IF 14. When the management device 3 receives the identification information of the printer 2 from the PC 1, it extracts the function information 21 associated with the identification information of the printer 2 from the function information management DB 31 and transmits it to the PC 1. The CPU 11 receives the function information 21 transmitted from the management device 3 via the communication IF 14 and stores it in the memory 12.

The CPU 11 determines whether or not the acquisition of function information 21 in S1 was successful (S3). For example, a printer that does not have restricted functions, such as printer 200, does not have function information 21. If such a printer 200 is selected, the CPU 11 fails to acquire function information 21 (S3: NO). In such a case, since it is assumed that there is no usage restriction and anyone can use any function, the CPU 11 determines that printing should be performed (S25) and returns to the processing of FIG. 3.

On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 4, if the CPU 11 has successfully acquired the function information 21 (S3: YES), the CPU 11 judges whether the information indicating whether the restriction function is enabled or disabled, which is included in the function information 21 acquired in S1, indicates that the function is enabled (S5). For example, if the acquired function information 21 includes information indicating that the restriction function is disabled (S5: NO), the CPU 11 judges that printing should be performed since no usage restrictions are imposed and printing is possible unconditionally, and returns to the process of Fig. 3.

As shown in FIG. 4, if the acquired function information 21 includes information indicating that the restriction function is enabled (S5: YES), the CPU 11 acquires a user ID (S7). S7 is an example of an identification information acquisition process. For example, the CPU 11 displays an identification information input screen for inputting a user ID via the user IF 13, and accepts an input operation of the user ID. In other words, the CPU 11 acquires the user ID by manual input by the user. Note that the CPU 11 may automatically acquire from the OS 21 the account of the logged-in user registered in the OS 21 as the user ID.

If the CPU 11 cannot obtain the user ID, it may cancel printing. If the CPU 11 cannot automatically obtain the user ID from the OS 21, it may display an identification information input screen on the user IF 13 and switch the input of the user ID from automatic to manual. If the user ID is automatically obtained from the OS 21, the CPU 11 may have the user confirm the automatically obtained user ID. In this case, it may be possible to change the user ID when the user ID is confirmed.

The CPU 11 that has acquired the user ID displays the print setting screen 110 shown in FIG. 5 via the user IF 13 (S9). The print setting screen 110 is a screen that accepts input operations for print settings, and includes, for example, a setting area 111, a confirm button 112, and a cancel button 113. The setting area 111 has a setting field for setting a setting value for each print setting item. The setting value for each item displays the print setting received from the general-purpose printing program 41 together with the execution instruction in A04 of FIG. 3. The CPU 11 accepts an operation to manually change the setting value of each item displayed on the print setting screen 110 via the user IF 13. The items displayed on the print setting screen 110 include items that correspond to the usage conditions, and may include items that cannot be handled by the general-purpose printing program 41. By displaying the print setting screen 110 before the judgment (S17) described later, it is possible to accept print settings specific to the printer 2 that cannot be handled by the general-purpose printing program 41, and further to set function restrictions on the specific print settings.

As shown in FIG. 4, the CPU 11 determines whether to confirm or cancel the print settings (S11). If the cancel button 113 on the print settings screen 110 shown in FIG. 5 is operated via the user IF 13 (S11: Cancel), the CPU 11 determines that printing is to be canceled (S27) and returns to the process of FIG. 3.

In response to this, when the Confirm button 112 on the print setting screen 110 shown in FIG. 5 is operated via the user IF 13, the CPU 11 determines that the print settings are to be confirmed (S11: Confirm) as shown in FIG. 4, and acquires the usage conditions (S13). S13 is an example of a usage condition acquisition process. For example, the CPU 11 requests the printer 2 selected with the confirmed print settings to send the usage conditions. The request includes the user ID acquired in S7. The printer 2 that receives the request extracts the usage conditions associated with the user ID received together with the request from the usage condition DB 23, and transmits them to the PC 1. The CPU 11 receives the usage conditions transmitted from the printer 2 via the communication IF 14, and stores them in the memory 12.

The CPU 11 may obtain the usage conditions from the management device 3. For example, the CPU 11 extracts the identification information of the printer 2 from the confirmed print settings, and transmits the extracted identification information of the printer 2 and the user ID obtained in S7 to the management device 3 via the communication IF 14. When the management device 3 receives the identification information of the printer 2, it identifies the usage conditions DB 23 associated with the identification information of the printer 2 in the usage conditions management DB 33. Then, it compares the received user ID with the identified usage conditions DB 23, and extracts the usage conditions associated with the user ID. Then, the management device 3 transmits the extracted usage conditions to the PC 1. The CPU 11 receives the usage conditions transmitted from the management device 3 via the communication IF 14, and stores them in the memory 12.

The CPU 11 determines whether or not the acquisition of the usage conditions was successful (S15). If the acquisition of the usage conditions was unsuccessful (S15: NO), the CPU 11 determines that printing should be canceled (S27) since it cannot use the usage conditions to determine whether printing is possible, and returns to the processing of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 4, if the CPU 11 has successfully acquired the usage conditions (S15: YES), it determines whether printing can be performed on the printer 2 (S17). S17 is an example of a determination process. In S17, the CPU 11 compares the usage conditions acquired in S13 with the print settings confirmed in S11, and determines whether printing can be performed on the printer 2 according to the confirmed print settings.

The CPU 11 judges whether printing on the printer 2 is judged to be executable (S19). If the confirmed print settings satisfy all the usage conditions and it is judged that printing on the printer 2 is executable (S19: YES), the CPU 11 judges that printing is to be executed (S25) and returns to the processing of FIG. 3. For example, if the print settings received together with the execution instruction from the general-purpose print program 41 (print settings that have not been changed via the print setting screen 110 displayed in S9) satisfy all the usage conditions, the CPU 11 judges that printing is to be executed. Alternatively, if the print settings received together with the execution instruction from the general-purpose print program 41 were edited via the print setting screen 110 before the judgment process of S17 was first performed and the edited print settings satisfy all the usage conditions, the CPU 11 judges that printing is to be executed.

In response to this, as shown in FIG. 4, if the confirmed print settings do not satisfy any of the usage conditions and it is determined that printing cannot be performed on the printer 2 (S19: NO), the CPU 11 causes the user IF 13 to display a print impossible notification screen (S21). S21 is an example of a notification process.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the print-unavailable notification screen 130 displayed on the user IF 13 includes a first display field 131 that displays information based on the usage conditions, and a second display field 133 that displays information about items that do not satisfy the usage conditions. Furthermore, the print-unavailable notification screen 130 includes a setting change button 135 and a cancel button 136. Because the print-unavailable notification screen 130 does not include a print button, it is possible to avoid printing being performed in a state where the usage conditions are not satisfied.

For example, assume that user C uses printer 2 to print 100 pages of documents with "All" set in the print range item on the print setting screen 110, color set in the color/monochrome item, and "ON" set in the toner save item, as shown in FIG. 5, and then operates the confirm button 112. As shown in FIG. 2, user C has "monochrome" set in color/monochrome, and is restricted from using color printing. User C is also limited to printing 80 pages, and cannot print 100 pages. Furthermore, user C has "ON" and "OFF" set in the toner save, which is included in the usage conditions, and can use printing without toner save. Therefore, the print settings set by user C do not satisfy user C's usage conditions in terms of the number of pages to be printed and the color/monochrome settings, and therefore printing based on those print settings cannot be performed on printer 2.

Based on this determination result, the CPU 11 generates a printing impossible notification screen 130 and displays it on the user IF 13. That is, the CPU 11 displays the user name "C" corresponding to the user ID acquired in S7 in the login name field of the first display field 131, notifying the user that information about user C is being displayed. The CPU 11 then displays "Printing impossible" in the PC printing field of the first display field 131, notifying the user that printing is not possible with the current settings on the printer 2.

Furthermore, the CPU 11 displays information based on the usage conditions acquired in S13 in the first display field 131, to notify the user C of how his/her use of the printer 2 is restricted. For example, the CPU 11 displays "ON" and "Maximum 80 sheets" in the Print count limit field to notify that the number of sheets that can be printed is limited and a maximum of 80 sheets can be printed. The CPU 11 also displays "0 pages" in the Remaining pages to be printed field to notify that the number of sheets to be printed has exceeded the limit and no sheets can be printed. Note that, for example, if the number of sheets to be printed is limited to 80 sheets, when printing 50 pages, 30 more sheets can be printed, so the CPU 11 displays "30 pages" in the Remaining pages to be printed field.

For another example, the CPU 11 displays "Not permitted" in the color printing field to notify that color printing is not available.For another example, the CPU 11 displays "Permitted" in the toner save OFF printing field in the first display field 131 to notify that printing without toner save setting is available.

The CPU 11 also displays the number of prints and color/monochrome that do not satisfy the usage conditions in the second display field 133. For example, the second display field 133 displays a message informing users of the items that do not satisfy the usage conditions, such as "Number of prints exceeded" or "Color printing not possible."

User C can understand which items need to be changed from the display contents of the second display field 133. User C can also understand from the display contents of the first display field 131 what settings will satisfy the usage conditions and enable printing on the printer 2.

For example, if user C does not want to print in black and white, he or she operates the cancel button 136 on the print failure notification screen 130 shown in FIG. 6 via the user IF 13. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the CPU 11 accepts a cancel instruction (S23: cancel instruction), determines that printing is to be canceled (S27), and returns to the process in FIG. 3. This avoids printing against the will of user C.

On the other hand, for example, when user C wants to change the current print settings, he operates the setting change button 135 on the print failure notification screen 130 shown in FIG. 6 via the user IF 13. When the CPU 11 accepts a setting change instruction (S23: setting change instruction) as shown in FIG. 4, it returns to S9 and redisplays the print setting screen 110. The processing in S23 and S9 is an example of a change process. The redisplayed print setting screen 110 displays the most recently confirmed print settings as shown in FIG. 5. For example, user C changes the print range setting from "All" to "Page Specification" and the specified range to "1-50" via the user IF 13, as shown in FIG. 7, according to the display of the first display field 131 and the second display field 133 of the print failure notification screen 130. User C also changes the color/monochrome setting from "color" to "monochrome" via the user IF 13. After that, user C operates the confirm button 112 via the user IF 13.

As shown in FIG. 4, the CPU 11 then accepts the confirmation instruction (S11: YES) and checks the changed print settings against the usage conditions to determine whether printing can be performed on the printer 2 (S17). Note that the process of S13 after the print settings have been changed may be omitted because the user is the same.

If the CPU 11 determines that the changed print settings satisfy all of the usage conditions and that execution is possible in S17 (S19: YES), the CPU 11 determines that printing should be executed (S25) because the changed print settings satisfy all of the usage conditions, and returns to FIG. 3.

In contrast, if the changed print settings do not satisfy the usage conditions and it is determined in S17 that execution is not possible (S19: NO), the CPU 11 redisplays the print impossible notification screen reflecting that determination (S21). When the CPU 11 receives a change instruction by operating the setting change button on the print impossible notification screen (S23: setting change instruction), it displays the print setting screen again (S9) and again accepts changes to the print settings. In this way, the auxiliary program 42 can increase the possibility that the printer 2 can be used by accepting changes to the print settings until the print settings satisfy the usage conditions.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the auxiliary program 42 judges in the print execution judgment process of A05 that printing is to be executed (alt: print execution), it generates print data (A11). Specifically, the auxiliary program 42 performs rasterization based on the intermediate image data based on the execution instruction received from the general-purpose print program 41 in A04, and generates print data showing the image to be printed. The print data is the intermediate image data rasterized using the print settings received from the general-purpose print program 41 in A04, or the print settings changed via the print setting screen 110 displayed on the user IF 13 in S23 and S9 of FIG. 4, which satisfy the usage conditions set by the user. The print data generated here is data in a format that can be used for printing by the printer 2, for example, PDL data dedicated to the model of the printer 2.

In addition, instead of the auxiliary program 42 generating the print data in A11, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data. In other words, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data by rasterizing the intermediate image data generated in A03. The auxiliary program 42 may receive the print data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 and edit the print data based on the changed print settings.

The print data generated by the general-purpose print program 41 is print data in a format that can be used for printing on various printers, for example, PWGRaster data or PDF data. If rasterization is performed by the general-purpose print program 41, the processing of the auxiliary program 42 is reduced, which is expected to prevent an increase in processing and also reduces the program size of the auxiliary program 42. Note that if the general-purpose print program 41 can generate print data from the image data included in the print instruction without using intermediate image data, it is not necessary to generate intermediate image data.

When the auxiliary program 42 generates the print data in A11, it sends the generated print data, a command to execute printing, the user ID, and the print settings used to generate the print data to the printer 2 (A12). In this case, the auxiliary program 42 passes a completion notification indicating that the print job has been sent to the general-purpose print program 41 (A13).

The printer 2 that has received the print data acquires the user ID and print settings received together with the print data (A21), and performs a determination process (A22). That is, the printer 2 extracts the usage conditions corresponding to the acquired user ID from the usage conditions DB 23, compares the acquired print settings with the extracted usage conditions, and determines whether printing can be performed with the acquired print settings.

If the printer 2 determines in the determination process of A22 that the received print settings satisfy all the extracted usage conditions and that printing is permitted, it executes printing (A23). By performing the determination process in the printer 2 in this way, the printer 2 can print according to the usage conditions by itself, for example, when it receives print data from another PC that does not have the print execution determination process shown in A05 of FIG. 3 or FIG. 4.

The print data may be sent to the printer 2 by the general-purpose print program 41. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the generated print data to the general-purpose print program 41 so that it is sent from the PC 1 to the printer 2 as the destination. In this case, the general-purpose print program 41 sends the print data received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2. In this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 sending the print data to the printer 2 and the auxiliary program 42 passing the print data to the general-purpose print program 41 to send the print data to the printer 2 are both examples of "processing for sending a print job for a print instruction to the printer".

If the print execution determination process of A05 determines that printing should be canceled (alt: print canceled), that is, as shown in FIG. 4, printing is canceled via the print setting screen (S11: NO), the acquisition of usage conditions fails (S15: NO), or printing is canceled via the print unavailable notification screen (S23: cancel instruction), and the CPU 11 determines that printing should be canceled (S27), the auxiliary program 42 passes information to cancel the print job to the general-purpose print program 41 (A31). By canceling the print job when the acquisition of usage conditions fails, it is possible to avoid unnecessary processing on the printer 2, such as further restricting printing on the printer 2 for the print job for which the auxiliary program 42 has restricted usage. The processing performed by S15, S27, and A31 is an example of cancellation processing.

The auxiliary program 42 outputs a print job only if it determines in the print execution determination process of A05 that printing should be performed, that is, only if it is determined in S17 of FIG. 4 that printing on the printer 2 can be performed. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 has already determined whether the functions of the printer 2 can be used by the process of A05 of FIG. 3 or S17 of FIG. 4. Therefore, the processes of A21 to A22 in FIG. 3 may be omitted. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 may attach an omission command to omit execution of the restricted function to the print data to be sent to the printer 2. The printer 2 that receives the omission command immediately performs printing as shown in A23.

As described above in detail, when a print instruction is given to the general-purpose print program 41, the auxiliary program 42 in this embodiment acquires a user ID and the usage conditions corresponding to that user ID, and determines whether printing can be performed on the printer 2 based on both of the acquired information, and notifies the user of the determination result via the user IF 13. This allows the user to know on the PC 1 whether printing can be performed on the printer 2 before printing is performed on the printer 2.

The embodiments disclosed in this specification are merely examples and do not limit the present invention in any way. Naturally, the technology disclosed in this specification can be improved or modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the technology. For example, the device connected to PC1 is not limited to a printer, but may be any device with a printing function, such as a multifunction device, copier, or fax machine. Furthermore, the number of printers connected to PC1 is not limited to the example shown in the figure, and may be two or more.

For example, if the CPU 11 determines in S17 of FIG. 4 that printing on the printer 2 can be performed (alt: can be performed), the CPU 11 may notify the user that there are no setting items that do not satisfy the usage conditions set by the user, and that printing will be performed based on the print settings. The notification may be made via the user IF 13, or by voice, etc.

For example, S1 to S5 in FIG. 4 may be omitted, and the auxiliary program 42 may always perform the processes from S7 onwards when it receives an execution instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41. However, if function information 21 including information indicating that a restricted function is enabled is not acquired, there is no need to compare the print settings with the usage conditions to determine whether printing is possible on the printer 2. Therefore, the auxiliary program 42 can reduce the processing load on the PC 1 by omitting the processes from S7 onwards.

Also, by providing a setting change button 135 on the print failure notification screen 130 shown in FIG. 6 and redisplaying the print setting screen 110 on the user IF 13 when it is determined that printing cannot be performed (S23: setting change instruction, S9 in FIG. 4), it is expected that the print settings will be changed to satisfy the usage conditions, and the possibility of using the printer 2 will increase. Also, by making a judgment again based on the changed print settings and accepting changes to the print settings until it is determined that printing on the printer 2 can be performed (S17 in FIG. 4), the possibility of using the printer 2 will increase further.

For example, the auxiliary program 42 may acquire the use conditions of multiple users (users A to D in FIG. 2) set for the printer 2 and execute a storage process to store them in the memory 12. The timing of executing the storage process may be any time before the process of S17 shown in FIG. 4. In other words, it may be before the auxiliary program 42 receives an execution instruction from the general-purpose print program 41 in A04 in FIG. 3, before acquiring a user ID in S7 in FIG. 4, or before confirming the print settings in S11. After acquiring the user ID in S7, the auxiliary program 42 may compare the acquired user ID with the use conditions stored in the memory 12 and acquire the use conditions associated with the acquired user ID. Then, the process of S17 is performed based on the acquired use conditions. In this way, the auxiliary program 42 acquires the use conditions of multiple users in advance, and when a print instruction is received, extracts appropriate use conditions from the use conditions acquired in advance, making it easier to acquire the use conditions earlier than when the use conditions are acquired after a print instruction is received. It also shortens the time it takes for the printer 2 to complete printing after the PC 1 receives a print command.

For example, step S15 in FIG. 4 may be omitted, and printing based on the print instruction may not be canceled if acquisition of the usage conditions fails.

For example, after receiving an execution instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41, the auxiliary program 42 may perform a determination process based on the print settings attached to the execution instruction without displaying the print setting screen before performing the first determination process.

For example, in the above embodiment, the same information as the function information 21 and the use condition DB 23 held by the printer 2 is stored in the function information management DB 31 and the use condition management DB 33 of the management device 3 in association with the identification information of the printer 2. In contrast, the function information 21 and the use condition DB 23 may be held only by the printer 2, and the printer 2 and the management device 3 may not be connected, or the management device 3 may not have the function information management DB 31 or the use condition management DB 33. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 always acquires the function information 21 including information indicating the validity/invalidity of the restriction function and the use conditions set by the user from the printer 2, and it is expected that the latest use conditions of the printer 2 can be acquired. In addition, the function information 21 including information indicating the validity/invalidity of the restriction function and the use conditions set by the user may not be held by the printer 2 and may be managed only by the management device 3. In this case, common use conditions can be used by multiple printers. Furthermore, even in the case of a printer that does not support restricted functions, the auxiliary program 42 can use the usage information acquired from the management device 3 to execute the judgment in S17 of FIG. 4, and the auxiliary program 42 can restrict the functions that the user can use when printing according to the usage conditions. Also, the configuration may be such that the function information 21 is held by either the printer 2 or the management device 3, and the usage conditions are held by the other of the printer 2 and the management device 3.

For example, in the embodiment, only the printing operation is described in detail as the operation of the auxiliary program 42, but the auxiliary program 42 may have other roles as well. The program that executes the process of this embodiment is not limited to the auxiliary program 42, but may be any program that receives instructions from the OS 21 or the generic print program 41 when printing using the generic print program 41. For example, it may be a print workflow application (Print workflow) whose specifications have been published by Microsoft.

The execution timing of the auxiliary program 42 is not limited to that of the embodiment. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may receive an execution instruction directly from the OS 21, or the auxiliary program 42 may be resident. If the auxiliary program 42 is resident, it may receive an execution command and perform the above-mentioned operation.

In addition, in any of the flowcharts disclosed in the embodiments, the execution order of multiple processes in any of the steps can be arbitrarily changed or the processes can be executed in parallel, as long as no inconsistencies occur in the process content.

The processes disclosed in the embodiments may be executed by a single CPU, multiple CPUs, hardware such as an ASIC, or a combination of these. The processes disclosed in the embodiments may be realized in various ways, such as a recording medium on which a program for executing the processes is recorded, or a method.

1 PC
2 Printer 11 CPU
12 Memory 13 User IF
21 OS
41 General-purpose printing program 42 Auxiliary program 43 Editing application

Claims (7)

A support program executable by a computer of an information processing device and corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device,
The computer includes:
When a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction instructs the printer to print an image to a general-purpose print program installed in advance in an operating system of the information processing device,
An identification information acquisition process for acquiring identification information for identifying a user;
a use condition acquisition process for acquiring a use condition associated with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process;
the usage conditions are conditions that determine whether printing can be performed on the printer and are set by the user;
The computer further comprises:
When the print instruction is given,
a determination process for determining whether printing can be performed on the printer based on print settings for the print instruction and the usage conditions acquired in the usage conditions acquisition process;
a notification process for performing a notification based on a determination result in the determination process using a user interface of the information processing device;
Run the command ,
The computer further comprises:
If it is determined in the determination process that printing cannot be performed on the printer, a change process is executed to accept a change to the print settings using the user interface;
The computer further comprises:
executes the determination process even after the change made by the change process, and in the determination process, if there is a change made by the change process, determines whether or not printing can be performed on the printer based on the print settings after the change and the usage conditions acquired by the usage conditions acquisition process;
The computer further comprises:
when it is determined in the determination process after the change made by the change process that printing on the printer is not executable, the change process is re-executed, and after it is determined in the determination process that printing on the printer is executable, a process is performed to transmit a print job for the print instruction to the printer.
A support program characterized by: A support program executable by a computer of an information processing device and corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device,
The computer includes:
When a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction instructs the printer to print an image to a general-purpose print program installed in advance in an operating system of the information processing device,
An identification information acquisition process for acquiring identification information for identifying a user;
a use condition acquisition process for acquiring a use condition associated with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process;
the usage conditions are conditions that determine whether printing can be performed on the printer and are set by a user;
The computer further comprises:
When the print instruction is given,
a determination process for determining whether printing can be performed on the printer based on print settings for the print instruction and the usage conditions acquired in the usage conditions acquisition process;
a notification process for performing a notification based on a determination result in the determination process using a user interface of the information processing device;
Run the command,
The computer further comprises:
when it is determined in the determination process that printing on the printer cannot be executed, a process for transmitting a print job for the print instruction to the printer is not performed, and after it is determined in the determination process that printing on the printer can be executed, the process for transmitting the print job for the print instruction to the printer is performed.
A support program characterized by: A support program executable by a computer of an information processing device and corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device,
The computer includes:
When a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction instructs the printer to print an image to a general-purpose print program installed in advance in an operating system of the information processing device,
An identification information acquisition process for acquiring identification information for identifying a user;
a use condition acquisition process for acquiring a use condition associated with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process;
the usage conditions are conditions that determine whether printing can be performed on the printer and are set by the user;
The computer further comprises:
When the print instruction is given,
a determination process for determining whether printing can be performed on the printer based on print settings for the print instruction and the usage conditions acquired in the usage conditions acquisition process;
a notification process for performing a notification based on a determination result in the determination process using a user interface of the information processing device;
Run the command,
The computer further comprises:
executing a cancellation process for canceling printing based on the print instruction when the acquisition of the usage conditions has failed in the usage condition acquisition process;
A support program characterized by: A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The computer includes:
executing a management information acquisition process for acquiring information indicating whether a restriction function of the printer based on the usage conditions is valid;
The computer further comprises:
When the print instruction is given,
If the information indicating that the printer's restriction function is enabled is acquired in the management information acquisition process, the determination process and the notification process are executed;
If the information indicating that the restriction function of the printer is valid is not acquired in the management information acquisition process, the determination process and the notification process are not executed.
A support program characterized by: A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
In the notification process,
when it is determined in the determination process that printing cannot be performed on the printer, the notification indicating the print setting items that do not satisfy the usage conditions is given using the user interface.
A support program characterized by: A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 5 ,
The computer includes:
acquiring the usage conditions of a plurality of users set for the printer, and storing the obtained usage conditions in a memory of the information processing device;
In the use condition acquisition process, a use condition associated with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process is acquired from the use conditions of the plurality of users stored in the storage process.
A support program characterized by: A support program according to any one of claims 1 to 6 ,
In the usage condition acquisition process,
the use conditions associated with the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition process are acquired from the printer, and the printer stores the use conditions set by a user;
A support program characterized by:

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