Information processing device and its control method, program, and storage medium

Abstract

To provide an information processing apparatus and a method for controlling the same, and a program that, in performing application cooperation, can eliminate discomfort given to a user during switching between application screens caused by a mismatch between display languages of respective applications.SOLUTION: After installation of an application A and an application B, a portable terminal 100 can change the language settings of the applications to different ones, and when receiving an operation of an icon 609 on a UI screen 600 of the already-installed application A, starts the application B in cooperation with the application A. The portable terminal 100 stores the language setting of the application A in an information sharing area 201 that can be used in the operation of both the application A and the application B, and when starting the application B in cooperation with the application A triggered by the reception of the operation of the icon 609, acquires the language setting of the application A from the information sharing area 201 and changes the language setting of the application B to the acquired language setting of the application A.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a control method thereof , log program , and storage media and particularly to an information processing apparatus in which program cooperation is used and a control method thereof , log program , and storage media thereof.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in information processing apparatuses such as mobile terminals and smartphones, program cooperation in which programs such as installed applications operate in cooperation with each other is generally used. Specifically, program cooperation is a technique that enables processing based on information handled in a predetermined program to be executed in a program different from the predetermined program.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a technique for sharing information between a first application and a second application by adding parameters such as print settings to a URL scheme when starting the second application from the first application using the URL scheme. Hereinafter, this technique is referred to as application cooperation.

[0004] In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a method for suppressing a sense of incongruity with respect to a screen display when an application different from the application started by the user is started during application cooperation. Thus, when a plurality of applications are started by application cooperation, seamless linked operation and display as if only one application is operating are important for improving usability.

[0005] On the other hand, in recent years, the language displayed in apps running on smartphones can be set individually for each app (called the app's default language), rather than being the language set by the OS (called the OS default language). This difference between the OS default language and the app's default language can cause problems such as garbled characters in program display. Patent document 3 discloses a technology to eliminate such differences in display languages. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2016-18285 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-10089 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-275071 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0007] However, when linking apps, if the language settings for each application are different, the display language will change when switching to the linked application, which can be jarring for the user.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention provides an information processing device and a control method thereof that can eliminate the sense of incongruity caused to the user when switching application screens due to inconsistencies in the display languages ​​of each application when performing application integration. , Program , and storage media The objective is to provide. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] To solve the above problems, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention is: affection Information processing device, Of the two applications, the first and second, which allow you to change the language settings after installation, Already installed in the aforementioned information processing device The aforementionedFirst Application screen Above, The aforementioned Accepts requests to launch the second application. Display control that controls the display of display items for a specific purpose. The means and the language settings of the first application are as follows: Note 2 A Application Accessible from A storage means for storing information in an information sharing area, and when the second application is started in response to the startup request. Based on the language settings of the first application stored in the information sharing area, the language will be the language indicated in the language settings of the first application stored in the information sharing area. The aforementioned Near It is characterized by comprising a means for changing the language settings of an application. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, when performing app integration, it is possible to eliminate the sense of incongruity that users experience when switching between application screens due to inconsistencies in the display languages ​​of each application. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portable terminal as an information processing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This diagram shows the variations in app integration performed by app A, app B, and store apps in Figure 1. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart of the app integration process that is executed on a mobile device when an operation to launch app B is performed while app A is running. [Figure 4] This is a flowchart of the post-launch processing for application B on a mobile device. [Figure 5] This figure shows the UI screen displayed in the display area in Figure 1 by the store app. [Figure 6] This diagram shows the UI screen displayed on the display unit by application A. [Figure 7] This figure shows the UI screen for changing the language settings of application A, which is displayed on the display unit by the OS in Figure 1. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] Hereinafter, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that each of the following embodiments does not limit the present invention according to the claims, and not all combinations of the features described in each embodiment are essential for the solution means of the present invention.

[0013] (First Embodiment) The information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the mobile terminal 100 is exemplified as the information processing apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this as long as it is an apparatus capable of installing a program. For example, a notebook PC, a tablet terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a digital camera, a music playback device, a television, etc. can be applied as the information processing apparatus according to the present invention. Also, in this embodiment, a smartphone is exemplified as the mobile terminal 100. A smartphone is a multifunctional mobile phone equipped with a camera function, an internet browser function, a mail function, etc. in addition to a mobile phone function.

[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile terminal 100. FIG. 1(a) is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 100, and FIG. 1(b) is a diagram showing the software configuration of the mobile terminal 100.

[0015] The mobile terminal 100 includes a CPU 101, an operation unit 102, a network interface 103, a memory 104, a display unit 105, and a storage device 106, and each is connected via a system bus.

[0016] The CPU 101 performs overall control of the mobile terminal 100. The operation unit 102 is an operation unit for the user to give instructions to the mobile terminal 100, and has, for example, buttons, a touch panel, etc.

[0017] Memory 104 is random access memory (RAM) that serves as the CPU 101's workspace, and is used as a temporary storage area for various received data and to store various setting data.

[0018] The storage device 106 is, for example, flash memory and stores various control programs such as applications and operating systems (hereinafter referred to as OS).

[0019] The network interface 103 is an interface for connecting to a network (not shown). The mobile terminal 100 is configured to connect to the network via the network interface 103 and to connect to external devices such as printers and the internet via the network.

[0020] The display unit 105 is a unit that displays various information and consists of a liquid crystal panel or the like. In this embodiment, the operation unit 102 and the display unit 105 are integrally configured and can both accept user operations and display various information. That is, the operation unit 102 and the display unit 105 are configured as a touch display. The user can operate the mobile terminal 100 by giving various instructions to the mobile terminal 100 by tracing or tapping the touch display with their finger or the like. The user can also give various instructions to the mobile terminal 100 by operating the touch display with an operator other than a finger, such as a stylus pen or other electrostatic touch panel pen. The operation unit 102 and the display unit 105 do not have to be integrally configured; for example, the operation unit 102 may be a physical keyboard equipped with physical keys.

[0021] As shown in Figure 1(b), in this embodiment, the mobile terminal 100 includes an OS 107, a store application 108, and two or more applications (application A109, application B110). Hereinafter, applications will be referred to as apps.

[0022] Store app 108 is an application for downloading apps to mobile device 100. The user can download and install the selected app to mobile device 100 by selecting the desired app in Store app 108 and performing the necessary operations for download (such as tapping the download button or password authentication). Furthermore, the user can launch apps already installed on mobile device 100 via Store app 108 by performing the necessary operations on the screen displayed by Store app 108 (such as tapping the "Open" button).

[0023] Figure 5 shows the UI screen 500 displayed on the display unit 105 by the store app 108. The UI screen 500 is the screen for downloading app B110 when app B110 is already installed on the mobile terminal 100. As described above, app B110 is launched when the "Open" button is tapped.

[0024] Figure 7 shows a UI screen 700 displayed on the display unit 105 by the OS 107 for changing the language settings of application A109. Using UI screen 700 (the second UI screen), the user can select the display language of application A109. Changing the language settings of application B110 is also done by displaying a similar UI screen by the OS 107. For users who are proficient in multiple languages, in particular, they may use different applications depending on the language community, so being able to select the display language for each application is important as it improves usability. Furthermore, if the user does not select the language settings for application A109 or application B110 using the UI screen 700 in Figure 7, the language settings of the OS 107 will be used as the language settings for application A109 and application B110.

[0025] Apps A109 and B110 are applications that are installed on the mobile terminal 100 via a network or the like by the store app 108. However, apps A109 and B110 may not be installed via the store app 108, but rather from a storage medium containing the respective applications, or they may be pre-installed on the mobile terminal 100 upon arrival. In this embodiment, apps A109 and B110 are applications that send print jobs to a printer with printing capabilities and perform printing based on the sent print jobs. Apps A109 and B110 may also have other functions besides printing. For example, they may have a function to send scan jobs to a printer and perform scans based on the sent scan jobs.

[0026] Store app 108, app A109, and app B110 operate via OS 107. This software is stored in storage device 106, loaded into memory 104, and executed by CPU 101.

[0027] In this embodiment, applications A109 and B110 operate in cooperation. Specifically, application B110 (second application) operates using information generated by application A109 (first application) which is already installed on the mobile terminal 100. Hereinafter, the operation of each application in cooperation will be referred to as application cooperation.

[0028] Next, we will explain examples of app collaboration in each use case. Figure 2(a) shows app collaboration when app B110 is launched in collaboration with app A109 already installed on the mobile device 100. Figure 2(b) shows app collaboration when app B110 is launched independently with app A109 and app B110 already installed on the mobile device 100. Figure 2(c) shows app collaboration when app B110 is launched in collaboration with app B110 when app B110 is not installed on the mobile device 100. Independent launch means that app B110 is launched, for example, by tapping the app icon on the home screen displayed by OS107, or by an operation on a screen displayed by the store app 108. Collaborative launch means that app B110 is launched by an operation on a screen displayed by an app other than the store app 108. In this embodiment, when application B110 is launched in conjunction, it refers to the case where application B110 is launched as a result of an operation on the screen displayed by application A109. When the linked application (application B) is launched in conjunction, information from the linked application (application A109) is notified, so the CPU 101 can determine whether or not application B110 has been launched in conjunction. In conjunction launch is performed to encourage the use of the linked application, for example, when the linked application is made to execute a function that the linked application cannot execute, or when the processing executed by the linked application is taken over to the linked application.

[0029] Figure 6 shows the UI screen 600 displayed on the display unit 105 by application A109.

[0030] As shown in Figure 6, icons 601 to 609 are displayed on UI screen 600 (the first UI screen).

[0031] Icon 601 indicates a printer registered in app A109. Printer registration in app A109 will be described later. Icons 602 and 603 are buttons that send a print job to a printer registered in app A109, allowing the mobile device 100 to print photos and documents stored on it.

[0032] Icon 604 is a button that sends a scan job to a printer registered in app A109 and initiates the scan. Icon 605 is a button that executes the cloud printing function, which prints image data stored on an external server to a printer registered in app A109.

[0033] Icon 606 is a button that sends a copy job to the printer registered in application A109, creating a copy of the original document. Icon 607 is a button that sends a print job to the printer, executing printing to disk media. For example, to execute printing to disk media, another application other than application A109 (a disk media printing application) may be required. In such cases, if the disk media printing application is installed on the mobile terminal 100 and the CPU 101 receives an operation on icon 607, it will launch the disk media printing application in conjunction with the application.

[0034] Icon 608 is a button that launches a web page displaying frequently asked questions and answers about app A109 (for example, how to use app A109). Icon 609 is a button that launches app B110 in conjunction. When CPU 101 receives an operation on icon 609 (a linked launch operation: a request to launch app B110) while app B110 is installed on the mobile terminal 100, it launches app B110 in conjunction. For example, if a printer that is not compatible with app B110 is registered in app A109, CPU 101 may not accept operations on icon 609 (make it impossible to accept operations). An impossible state here includes, for example, when icon 609 is grayed out or hidden. In other words, if app B110 is an application that can share information with app A109, for example, if they are applications provided by the same vendor, icon 609 will be displayed in an operational state on UI screen 600.

[0035] Next, using Figure 2(a), we will explain a use case in which application B110 is launched in conjunction with application A109 when applications A109 and B110 are already installed on the mobile terminal 100.

[0036] First, the CPU 101 (storage means), for example, when it receives an operation request for icon 609, starts the coordinated launch of application B110 and saves shared information 202 to the information sharing area 201. The shared information 202 is information that the CPU 101 can use in the operation of both application A109 and application B110. The information sharing area 201 is a storage area where the shared information 202 is stored. The information sharing area 201 may be a common folder accessible in the operation of both application A109 and application B110, or it may be something like a clipboard or pasteboard managed by the OS 107. The common folder may be an area contained in the memory of the mobile terminal 100, such as storage device 106, or an area contained in an external storage medium such as an SD card or HDD (not shown) that can be inserted into the mobile terminal 100, or an area on a network server. There are no restrictions on the form, as long as it can store information that can be used in the operation of both application A109 and application B110. The timing at which shared information 202 is deleted from the information sharing area 201 may be, for example, when shared information 202 is used, or when the linked application B110 has finished running.

[0037] Then, when CPU 101 launches application B110, application B110 references the information sharing area 201 to obtain shared information 202 and executes processing based on the shared information 202.

[0038] In this embodiment, the shared information 202 includes language information (language settings) set in application A. Language information may be a language code of the international standard specified in ISO 639, or it may be a string or number that applications A109 and B110 can commonly understand. As mentioned above, in this embodiment, applications A109 and B110 have a printing function that prints an image to a printer that the mobile terminal 100 can communicate with. Applications A109 and B110 can execute the printing function by searching for printers around the mobile terminal 100 and registering the device to perform printing from among the searched devices. The process of registering an image forming device with an application is, in other words, the process of setting the device that the application communicates with (setting process). In this form, for example, information about the printer registered in application A109 (hereinafter referred to as registration information) can be applied as shared information 202. Specifically, registration information includes, for example, a MAC address, Bonjour name, IP address, etc. Then, as a process based on the shared information 202 when application B110 is launched in conjunction with the CPU 101, application B110 executes the process of registering the printer registered in application A109 to application B110. In this configuration, the CPU 101 can register the printer in application B110 without, for example, having application B110 execute the process of searching for the printer. If all the information necessary to register the printer does not fit in the information sharing area 201, at least one part of the information necessary to register the printer may be applied as shared information 202. Even in this configuration, effects such as reducing the time required for the process of searching for the printer can be achieved. Thus, a feature of this embodiment is that the language information of the source application A109 is stored in shared information 202 along with the printer information necessary for the cooperation between applications, and is made accessible from application B110.

[0039] Next, using Figure 2(b), we will explain the behavior of the CPU 101 when application B110 is launched independently without going through application A109, assuming that applications A109 and B110 are already installed on the mobile terminal 100.

[0040] Similar to Figure 2(a), first, when the CPU 101 receives an operation request for, for example, the icon 609, it starts the coordinated launch of application B110 and saves the shared information 202 in the information sharing area 201. In this embodiment, the CPU 101 also refers to the information sharing area 201 when application B110 is launched independently. If the shared information 202 is saved in the information sharing area 201, the CPU 101 retrieves the shared information 202 and executes processing based on the shared information 202.

[0041] Thus, in this embodiment, the CPU 101 refers to the information sharing area 201 when application B110 is launched, regardless of whether application B110 is launched independently or in conjunction with other applications. This configuration allows application collaboration with application A109 to be performed whether application B110 is launched independently or in conjunction with other applications.

[0042] Next, using Figure 2(c), we will explain the behavior of the CPU 101 when an operation is performed to launch application B110 in conjunction with the screen displayed by application A109, while application B110 is not installed on the mobile terminal 100.

[0043] Even if an operation is performed to launch app B110 in conjunction with the screen displayed by app A109, if app B110 is not installed on the mobile device 100, the CPU 101 will naturally be unable to launch app B110. Furthermore, installing app B110 on the mobile device 100 generally requires the use of the store app 108. Therefore, if app B110 is not installed on the mobile device 100, and an operation is performed to launch app B110 in conjunction with the screen displayed by app A109, the CPU 101 will execute the following process.

[0044] First, when the CPU 101 receives an operation on the icon 609, before launching the store app 108, the app A 109 stores the shared information 202 in the information sharing area 201. Next, the CPU 101 launches the store app 108. The CPU 101 then sends information that identifies the target app to be downloaded (hereinafter referred to as the target app) (hereinafter referred to as app identification information 203) to the launched store app 108, so that the store app 108 installs the target app on the mobile terminal 100. This allows the UI screen for downloading the target app to be displayed on the display unit 105. In the use case shown in Figure 2(c), the CPU 101 sends app identification information 203, which identifies the target app as app B 110, to the launched store app 108. As a result, the UI screen 500 (Figure 5) for downloading app B 110 is displayed on the display unit 105 by the store app 108. After that, the CPU 101 receives an operation from the user on the UI screen 500 and downloads app B 110. Furthermore, if an operation is received for icon 609, CPU 101 may automatically download app B110 without displaying UI screen 500 in Figure 5 or receiving user operations on UI screen 500. Subsequently, CPU 101 accepts operations on the app icon corresponding to app B110 on the home screen and operations on the screen displayed by store app 108 (operations on the open button in Figure 5). Then, CPU 101 launches app B110 in response to these operations and executes the same process as shown in Figure 2(b). In other words, CPU 101 executes the process that would occur if app B110 were launched independently.

[0045] Thus, if an operation to launch app B110 in conjunction with other applications is performed on the UI screen 600 of app A109 while app B110 is not installed on the mobile terminal 100, the CPU 101 downloads app B110 using the store app 108. When app B110 is launched, the CPU 101 can use the shared information 202 to link app A109 and app B110. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 2(b), the information sharing area 201 is also referenced when app B110 is launched independently, so even if app B110 is launched independently despite an operation to launch app B110 in conjunction with other applications, app A109 and app B110 can still be linked.

[0046] Figure 3 is a flowchart of the application linkage process executed when application B110 is launched in conjunction with application A109 on the mobile terminal 100. The process shown in this flowchart is realized, for example, by the CPU 101 reading the program corresponding to application A109 stored in the storage device 106 or the like into memory 104 and executing it. The process shown in this flowchart is assumed to start when the screen for executing the functions of application A109 is displayed on the display unit 105 by application A109. In this embodiment, the "launching application" in Figure 4 is application A, and the "linking application" in the same figure is application B.

[0047] First, in step S301, CPU 101 accepts the operation to launch application B110. Specifically, for example, it accepts an operation from the user to icon 609.

[0048] In steps S302 and S303, CPU 101 obtains the language information set for application A109 (hereinafter referred to as "language setting") and the language setting of OS 107. Note that the default language settings for application A109 and application B110 match the language setting of OS 107. As mentioned above, OS 107 and application A109 can have separate language settings independently, so it is possible that application A109 may have a different language setting than OS 107 due to user operation. Therefore, in step S304, CPU 101 determines whether the language settings obtained in steps S302 and S303 are different. If it is determined that the language setting of application A109 is different from the language setting of OS 107 (YES in step S304), the process proceeds to step S305. On the other hand, if it is determined that the language setting of application A109 is the same as the language setting of OS 107 (NO in step S304), the process proceeds directly to step S306 without performing the processing in step S305.

[0049] In step S305, the CPU 101 stores the language information of application A109 in the information sharing area 201. In this embodiment, the language code defined in ISO 639-1 is stored as a string.

[0050] On the other hand, if the language setting of app A109 is the same as the language setting of OS107 (NO in step S304), the process proceeds directly to step S306 without performing the process in step S305. This is because if the language setting of app A109 is the same as the language setting of OS107, no special language setting process has been performed by the user, and therefore no special processing is required for the following processes.

[0051] Next, in step S306, printer information is stored in the information sharing area 201 as information to be used for linked startup in this embodiment. A characteristic of this embodiment is that printer information, which is always used for linked startup, and language information, which may be used, are stored in the information sharing area 201.

[0052] In step S307, the CPU 101 determines whether or not application B110 is installed on the mobile terminal 100. If it determines that application B110 is installed on the mobile terminal 100 (YES in step S307), the CPU 101 launches application B110 in step S308. After that, the CPU 101 executes the post-launch processing of application B110 as shown in Figure 4, which will be described later. On the other hand, if it determines that application B110 is not installed on the mobile terminal 100 (NO in step S307), the CPU 101 launches the store app 108 in step S309, for example, using a known method using a URL scheme. At this time, the store app 108 is launched with application identification information 203 added to the URL scheme so that the store app 108 can identify application B110. As a result, along with the launch of the store app 108, a screen for downloading application B110 is displayed. In this state, by receiving an operation from the user to download application B110, CPU 101 can download and launch application B110. Subsequently, CPU 101 executes the post-launch processing of application B110 as shown in Figure 4, which will be described later.

[0053] Figure 4 is a flowchart of the post-launch processing of application B110 in the mobile terminal 100. This flowchart is implemented, for example, by the CPU 101 reading the program corresponding to application B110, which is stored in the storage device 106, into memory 104 and executing it. Similar to Figure 3, the "launching application" in Figure 4 is application A in this embodiment, and the "cooperating application" in the same figure is application B in this embodiment.

[0054] First, in step S401, CPU 101 launches application B110. The processing in step S401 is triggered by receiving a coordinated launch operation for application B110 via application A109, a launch command for application B110 via store application 108, or a launch command for application B110 via the home screen.

[0055] In step S402, the CPU 101 determines whether the predetermined shared information 202 exists in the information sharing area 201. If the shared information 202 does not exist (NO in step S402), it can be determined that application B110 is not expected to cooperate with application A109, and this process ends. On the other hand, if it is determined that the shared information 202 exists (YES in step S402), it can be determined that application B110 is expected to initiate a shared application from application A109, and the process proceeds to step S403 and beyond.

[0056] In step S403, CPU 101 checks the details of shared information 202, whose existence was confirmed in step S402. Specifically, it determines whether or not language settings are included in shared information 202. These language settings correspond to the language settings of application A109 stored in step S305 of Figure 3. As mentioned earlier, there is a possibility that these language settings are not included in shared information 202, so the above determination is made in this step. If language settings are included in shared information 202 (YES in step S403), the process proceeds to step S404 and beyond. On the other hand, if language settings are not included in shared information 202 (NO in step S403), the process proceeds to step S407.

[0057] In step S404, the CPU 101 (acquisition means) obtains a list of language settings that can be set for application B110. In step S405, the language settings are obtained from shared information 202, and the list of language settings obtained in step S404 is referenced to determine whether the obtained language settings can be applied to application B110. Generally, the language settings that can be used and displayed differ for each application, so the language settings of application A109 cannot always be used for application B110. If it is determined that it can be applied (YES in step S405), the process proceeds to step S406 and beyond. On the other hand, if it is determined that it cannot be applied (NO in step S405), the language settings of application B110 are left at the default, i.e., the language settings of OS 107, without any changes, and the process proceeds to step S407.

[0058] In step S406, CPU 101 (the means of change) applies the language settings obtained in step S405 to app B110. Through these processes, the language settings of app A109 are automatically applied to app B110, and the language settings when the linked applications are launched become the same.

[0059] If, after applying the language settings of app A to app B in step S406, or if it is determined in either step S403 or S405 that there is no need to change the language settings of app B110, the process proceeds to step S407 and beyond.

[0060] In step S407, the CPU 101 determines whether printer information exists in the shared information 202. If it is determined that printer information exists (YES in step S407), the process proceeds to step S408, and the printer information is applied to application B110. On the other hand, if it is determined that printer information does not exist (NO in step S407), this process ends.

[0061] As described above, in this embodiment, if the CPU 101 receives a linked launch operation for application B110 via application A109 when application B110 is not installed, it downloads and launches application B110 via the store application 108. At this time, since application B110 is launched from the store application 108, the CPU 101 determines that the launch of application B110 is a standalone launch, even though a linked launch operation for application B110 was performed. In this embodiment, the CPU 101 also refers to the information sharing area 201 even when a standalone launch occurs. Therefore, even if application B110 is launched standalone despite a linked launch operation for application B110, the language settings of application A in the shared information 202 can be used to set the language settings of application B to be the same as those of application A.

[0062] (Other embodiments) In the first embodiment described above, an example was shown in which the information sharing area 201 is always referenced whether application B110 is launched in conjunction with other applications or launched independently. However, the present invention is not limited to this form. For example, applications A109 and B110 can each have different language settings. Therefore, a user may intentionally set different languages ​​for applications A109 and B110. In such a case, if applications A109 and B110 are linked and the language setting of application A109 is registered in application B110, there is a risk that application B110 will be changed to a language setting unintended by the user.

[0063] Therefore, when app B110 is launched, CPU 101 may control the system to apply the language setting of app A109 to app B110 if the language setting of app B110 is the default language setting of OS 107. In other words, when app B110 is launched, CPU 101 may control the system to maintain the language setting of app B110 without changing it if the language setting of app B110 is a language setting other than the default language setting of OS 107. This prevents the language setting of app B110 from being changed unintentionally by the user.

[0064] Furthermore, although the first embodiment described above describes a configuration in which the download of application B110 is performed by the store application 108, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the CPU 101 may download application B110 from a web page. In this case, the process of launching the store application 108 in the above configuration becomes the process of launching a program for displaying a web page. Even when launching a program for displaying a web page, the web page for downloading the target application can be directly displayed by using information about the target application. Also, after the CPU 101 downloads application B110 by the store application 108, the installation of application B110 may be performed by an installer. Furthermore, the CPU 101 may download and install application B110 from a personal computer.

[0065] Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, printing applications are given as examples for applications A109 and B110, and registration information is given as an example for shared information 202, but the present invention is not limited to this form. That is, applications A109 and B110 can be applications that can share information with each other, for example, applications provided by the same vendor, and their functions are not limited. Also, the content of shared information 202 is not limited. For example, application A109 may be a camera application and application B110 may be a photo album creation application. In that case, for example, shared information 202 may be image data that can be placed in a photo album. In that case, the specific processing in application linkage may be processing to display thumbnails of the image data in shared information 202, or processing to store shared information 202 in an area that can be accessed by application B110.

[0066] Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, the device registered in app A109 and app B110 was a printer, but the present invention is not limited to this form. In other words, any device that can communicate with the mobile terminal 100 via app A109 and app B110 is acceptable.

[0067] Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, the language setting of application A109 was saved in the information sharing area 201 when an operation was performed to launch application B110 in conjunction with the screen displayed by application A109. However, the present invention is not limited to this form. For example, the language setting of application A109 may be saved in the information sharing area 201 when the CPU 101 obtains the language setting of application A109 from the information sharing area 201, or when the language setting of application A109 is changed in response to user operation on the UI screen 700 in Figure 7.

[0068] The embodiments described above can also be realized by performing the following process: supplying software (programs) that realize the functions of the embodiments described above to a system or device via a network or various storage media, and having the computer (CPU, MPU, etc.) of that system or device read and execute the program. The program may be executed on a single computer or by having multiple computers work together. Furthermore, it is not necessary to implement all of the above processes in software; some or all of the processes may be implemented in hardware such as an ASIC. Also, the CPU is not limited to one CPU that performs all the processing; multiple CPUs may work together as appropriate to perform the processing.

[0069] This embodiment includes the following configurations, methods, and programs. (Configuration 1) An information processing device that allows each application to be changed to a different language setting after installation, comprising: a request receiving means for receiving a request to start a second application on a first application already installed on the information processing device; a storage means for storing the language setting of the first application in an information sharing area that can be used when either the first or second application is running; and a change means for obtaining the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area when the second application is started in response to the start request, and changing the language setting of the second application to the obtained language setting of the first application. (Configuration 2) The information processing apparatus according to Configuration 1, wherein the request receiving means is an icon displayed on a first UI screen, and if the second application is a predetermined application, the icon is set to a state where it can be operated on the first UI screen, and if the second application is not the predetermined application, the icon is set to a state where it cannot be operated on the first UI screen. (Configuration 3) The information processing device according to Configuration 2, characterized in that the predetermined application is an application that can share information with the first application. (Configuration 4) The information processing apparatus according to Configuration 3, characterized in that the predetermined application is an application provided by the same vendor as the first application. (Configuration 5) When a startup request is made, if the language setting of the second application is different from the language setting of the first application, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area, characterized in that the information processing device according to any one of Configurations 1 to 4. (Configuration 6) When the second application is launched in response to the launch request, if the language setting of the second application is a language setting other than the OS language setting, the changing means maintains the language setting of the second application without changing it, as described in any one of Configurations 1 to 5. (Configuration 7) The information processing apparatus according to any one of Configurations 1 to 6, characterized in that when the modification means obtains the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area. (Configuration 8) The information processing apparatus according to any one of Configurations 1 to 6, further comprising a second UI screen that accepts user operations to change the language settings of the first application, wherein when the language settings of the first application are changed in response to the user operation on the second UI screen, the storage means stores the language settings of the first application in the information sharing area. (Configuration 9) An information processing apparatus according to any one of Configurations 1 to 8, further comprising acquisition means for acquiring a list of language settings that can be set in the second application, wherein if the language setting list includes the language setting of the first application that was acquired, the change means changes the language setting of the second application to the language setting of the first application that was acquired. (Method 1) A control method for an information processing device that allows each application to be changed to a different language setting after installation, comprising: a request reception step of receiving a request to start a second application on a first application already installed on the information processing device; a storage step of storing the language setting of the first application in an information sharing area that can be used when either the first or second application is running; and a change step of obtaining the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area when the second application is started in response to the startup request, and changing the language setting of the second application to the obtained language setting of the first application. (Program 1) A computer-executable program that causes a computer to function as one of the means of the information processing device described in any one of items 1 to 9. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0070] 100 mobile devices 101 CPU 102 Operation section 103 Network Interface 104 memory 105 Display section 106 Storage device 108 Store Apps 109 App A 110 App B 201 Information sharing area 202 Shared Information

Claims

1. An information processing device, The system includes a display control means that controls the display of a display item for accepting a request to launch the second application on the screen of the first application, which is already installed on the information processing device, among the first and second applications, whose language settings can be changed after installation. A storage means for storing the language settings of the first application in an information sharing area accessible from the second application, An information processing apparatus characterized by comprising: a means for changing the language setting of the second application based on the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area, so that when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, the language setting of the second application is the language indicated by the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area.

2. If a device that does not correspond to the second application is registered with the first application as a device that can communicate with the first application, the display control means controls the display item to be in a state where it can be operated on the screen of the first application, as described in Claim 1.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the first application can share information regarding devices that can communicate with the first application with the second application.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the second application and the first application are provided by the same vendor.

5. If the language setting of the operating system of the information processing device is different from the language setting of the first application, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area in response to receiving the startup request. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, if the language setting of the operating system of the information processing apparatus is the same as the language setting of the first application, the storage means does not store the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area in response to receiving the startup request.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, if the language setting of the second application is a language setting other than the language setting of the operating system of the information processing apparatus, the changing means maintains the language setting of the second application without changing it.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that when the modification means obtains the language setting of the first application from the information sharing area, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area.

8. The display control means further controls to display the UI screen of the first application which accepts user operations to change the language settings of the first application, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that when the language setting of the first application is changed in response to a user modification operation on the UI screen, the storage means stores the language setting of the first application in the information sharing area.

9. The second application further includes means for obtaining a list of language settings that can be set in the aforementioned second application, The aforementioned modification means is, If the language setting list includes a language indicated by the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area, the language setting of the second application is changed to the language indicated by the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area. The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that if the language setting list does not include a language indicated in the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area, the language setting of the second application is not changed.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, upon receiving the startup request, the storage means stores both the language setting of the first application and shared information different from the language setting in the information sharing area.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that the shared information is at least one of the following: information for a device that can communicate by the first application, information about a printer registered in the first application, and image data.

12. A control method for an information processing device, The following are steps to control the display of a display item for accepting a request to launch the second application on the screen of the first application, which is already installed on the information processing device, among the first and second applications, whose language settings can be changed after installation: A storage step of storing the language settings of the first application in an information sharing area accessible from the second application, A control method characterized by having a change step of changing the language setting of the second application based on the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area so that when the second application is launched in response to the launch request, the language of the second application is the language indicated by the language setting of the first application stored in the information sharing area.

13. A program for causing a computer to function as one of the means of an information processing apparatus described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to function as one of the means of an information processing device described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

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